


Harry Potter and the Black Triad

by JKDoubleX



Series: Black Triad [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abusive Dursley Family (Harry Potter), Good Dudley Dursley, Harry Potter was Raised by Other(s), M/M, Magical Dudley Dursley, Multi, Nonbinary Nymphadora Tonks, Other, Polyamory, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin Raise Harry Potter, Trans Male Pregnancy, Trans Sirius Black, Well-Meaning but Flawed Albus Dumbledore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2020-07-31 13:36:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20115952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JKDoubleX/pseuds/JKDoubleX
Summary: A little more than a year after their best friends' deaths, Remus, Sirius, and Tonks Black-Lupin find out their godson is being abused in his aunt's home. Without hesitation, they do the only thing a good person can do, and kidnap both Harry and his cousin. Join the Black-Lupin family as they hide from the ministry of magic and death eaters alike, attempt to clear Sirius' name, and raise the next generation of marauders - hopefully without setting too many things on fire.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> For obvious reasons, in this AU, Tonks is only 13 MONTHS younger than Remus and was in the same year as Regulus, and Teddy is 9 months younger than Harry and will be in the same year as Ginny and Luna. 
> 
> Andromeda is also obviously much older than her canon counterpart, but Bellatrix and Narcissa remain the same age for simplicity’s sake. Andromeda is just now the oldest Black sister.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3 months after losing his best friend, Sirius is in Azkaban lamenting his life choices. Luckily, he won’t get to mope for long.

**24 January 1982**

The sun started its daily descent under the horizon, and Sirius Black scratched another line into the wall. Eighty-four lines, eighty-four days, since he’d been in this hellhole. Twelve weeks. Three months. A quarter of a year’s sentence done, only a lifetime left. Until he finally got lucky and died.

Counting the days was almost as bad as the dementors themselves when it came to making Sirius feel completely hopeless and alone, but he kept on anyway. He had nothing else to do, after all. Besides, he knew he deserved it.

He should’ve known Wormtail was the traitor, should’ve gone ahead and been the secret keeper. Who cared if Voldemort killed him trying to get the information; at least James and Lily would’ve been safe. And Harry, poor Harry; he’d never know Sirius as anything more than a murdering traitor, as would Sirius’ own son, Teddy.

_He’s not my son anymore, _Sirius told himself firmly, his heart sinking as he did so. Sirius was only considered Teddy’s father because he was involved with Moony and Tonks, and that was undoubtedly over. He had no claim to the boy, legally or biologically, no matter what he felt.

Sirius heard heavy footsteps approaching his cell, and quickly morphed back to human. For some reason, Tonks and Moony hadn’t told the ministry about his animagus ability, and Sirius didn’t want them to find out. Being able to become Padfoot was the only thing keeping him sane. He couldn’t let that get taken away.

_Must have caught another death eater, _ Sirius thought. Aurors only came to the island if there was a new prisoner, and nobody else in their right mind would come here, even if they were allowed to. Even animals knew instinctively to stay away from this place of death and decay. _Good. If I have to be in this hellhole, I hope every single death eater is stuck in here with me. _

The footsteps came closer, and stopped outside the cell. Sirius raised his head to glare at whoever came to bother him and a very pale, pinkish white fox stared back at him. He’d never seen this animal before, or indeed any animal quite like it, but it looked very familiar, especially those twinkling brown eyes.

“Tonks?” Sirius asked. “Is that you?” It was impossible, he knew. Tonks hadn't even come on Auror missions since Sirius was locked up - though Sirius suspected old Mad-Eye Moody simply didn't trust Tonks to see Sirius, rather than any attempt to spare Tonks' feelings. _I must be going mad_. But still, Sirius decided to play along. Seeing one of his beloveds, even as a hallucination, even as a fox, was welcome at this point. And at least in fox form, at least Tonks couldn’t start shouting at him.

The fox dipped its head. The long nights pouring over books in old classrooms trying in vain to teach Tonks the animagus transformation didn’t quite come back to him; the dementors would’ve never allowed that. But for the first time in three months, Sirius felt something almost akin to happiness. He morphed into animagus form, hoping to keep the feeling away from the dementors for just a little bit longer.

Then, right before Sirius’ eyes, Tonks changed back into their human form, as easily as Sirius had just changed to Padfoot, and drew their wand. With a flash of red light, everything went black.

* * *

Some time later, Sirius woke up on an empty beach. He was alone and would’ve thought he’d gone blind if not for the stars, but he was, strangely, happier than he’d ever remembered being. What had happened to the dementors? Where was he? Anywhere was better than Azkaban, but still, he’d have liked some answers.

“Wotcher,” a familiar voice said. “No offense, but you look like hell.”

_I’ve gone mad, _Sirius confirmed to himself as Tonks and Moony materialized before him, both of them shining their lit wands in his face.

“You don’t look so great yourself,” Sirius said, falling back easily into their old banter. It had a bit of truth to it. Tonks looked like they were drained of color, their hair a dull, messy brown and their face pale and thin. Only their eyes looked the same; the same twinkling brown as the fox and full of curiosity and, if Sirius wasn’t mistaken, a bit of guarded hope. Moony, for his part, didn’t look like he’d changed a bit since he was still running secret Order missions with the werewolves. He was just as thin and ragged, his eyes much harder than Tonks’.

“No fucking shit,” Tonks said. “It’s not like two of my best friends were betrayed by another one of my best friends, my godson was sent off with his shitty muggle relatives, and my boyfriend got himself thrown in Azkaban, or anything.”

Sirius couldn’t help it; he laughed. Much like the night he’d been caught, he couldn’t stop laughing, not even for the angry look on his beloveds’ faces, even though nothing was the least bit funny.

“This isn’t happening,” he said when he could finally speak again. “I’m still in my cell, probably muttering to myself like all the rest. I guess I should be glad the hallucination is you two, at least. Better than looking at Bellatrix’s ugly mug all day.”

“We’re not-”

“Wait,” Sirius said. “Let me guess. You’re going to start screaming at me about how you’ll never forgive me, how everything is my fault, how it should’ve been me instead. You’ll tell me Teddy will never know I was his father, and will grow up only ever hating me and seeing Wormtail as a martyr. Maybe you’ll even change his name to Teddy _Peter Lupin_, if you haven’t already. Am I close?” Before either Moony or Tonks could reply, he pressed on, unable to stop it once he’d started. “Well, guess what? I’ve heard it all before. Hearing it from your voices isn’t going to make a damn bit of difference. I’ve done this, twelve weeks of it, in Azkaban, which you damn well know as a figment of my imagination. So say what you want to say, _I don’t care._”

“You finished?” Tonks asked dryly.

Sirius nodded. “Just get on with it,” he said.

“Thank you _so much_ ,” Tonks said. “As I was _saying, _I’m not a hallucination, and neither is Remus. We sprung you so you could explain yourself.”

“Explain myself?” Sirius repeated numbly. This was a first. He’d of course often dreamed of his loved ones demanding an explanation, but they’d never let him give it, only continued to shout at him. There was no explanation or excuse that would satisfy them.

But Tonks seemed genuinely willing to hear him out. “Yes, you idiot, explain yourself,” they said. “Start from the beginning.”

Sirius took a second to collect his thoughts, and told his beloveds everything.

* * *

“And I couldn’t help it,” Sirius finished. “I laughed. I couldn’t say a word in my defense, not that they would’ve listened; the stress of it all just became overwhelming and I couldn’t hold it in anymore.”

Sirius looked up at his former lovers. He was still convinced it was another cruel trick of his mind, a manifestation of his worst fear; that he’d finally have a chance to tell them everything, and they’d still think he was a traitor and a murderer.

But Moony and Tonks looked at each other and exchanged a small nod.

“I don’t think he’s lying,” Moony said. It was the first time Sirius had heard him speak. “I know all of his tells.”

That seemed to satisfy Tonks, who broke out into a grin. “I knew it,” they said. “We both did. I just never imagined Peter would do this, either. We assumed you changed secret keepers without telling us, for some reason. Probably to ‘protect us’ or something equally stupid and Gryffindor.” Tonks paused and took a breath. “We just didn’t know who it might be. And we thought either that person or another death eater must have killed Peter and those muggles, and framed you.”

“You weren’t far off,” Sirius said. “You really believe me?”

“Yes,” Tonks said. “I know you never would’ve betrayed James and Lily.”

“I’m sorry,” Moony said, looking downright ashamed. “I really thought you did, at first. Tonks convinced me I was wrong.”

“It’s not your fault,” Sirius said. “It was a stupid plan. I should’ve told you so you’d talk me out of it. Besides, you did break me out.” Sirius allowed himself a small smile. If this truly was an illusion, ending it would break him, but he found he didn’t much care at the moment. This moment was all that mattered. “You’ve got to tell me how you did that. How did the dementors not see you?”

“I became an animagus, obviously,” Tonks said. “I knew the dementors wouldn’t sense an animal nearly as easily, and I might be able to break in.”

“You finally mastered it?” Sirius asked. “How? I tried to teach you for years!”

“It’s a long story,” Tonks said, looking grim once again. “I’d rather not get into it now.”

“Fair enough,” Sirius said. “How are Teddy and Harry? Who’s with Teddy, if you’re both here?”

“My parents are watching Teddy,” Tonks said. “We told them we were going out on a date night. It wasn’t _exactly_ a lie.” They allowed themselves a small grin.

“And Harry?” Sirius prompted. “You said he’s with Lily’s sister – and how did that happen?! - is doing he alright, or do I have to _actually_ go commit a murder?”

Tonks’ grin faded. “We don’t know,” they said bitterly. “Dumbledore won’t let us see him.”

“Won’t let – but you’re his legal guardian!” Sirius protested. “It makes sense he’d deny me, considering everything that happened, but you-”

“Tell me about it,” Tonks said, scowling. “I may have lost my temper with the old codger.”

“Tonks sent him a dozen firecrackers with Owlvendork,” Remus translated. “Totally destroyed his office.”

Despite the gravity of the situation, Sirius guffawed. “That’s brilliant,” he said.

“It was stupid,” Tonks said. “It just gave him another reason to keep us away – not that he seemed to need one. We don’t even know where he is. We know he’s with Lily’s sister, but not where they are. Dumbledore probably thinks we’d steal him.”

“Wouldn’t we?” Sirius asked, tentatively hoping he’d once more be included in _we_. “We’re his legal guardians. We’d have every right.”

“I don't think you're a _legal _guardian anymore," Remus said. "And no, we wouldn’t if he’s safer where he is, which is certainly possible. The muggles won’t know who he is, and death eaters won’t stray into the muggle world for anything.”

“You’re saying that because you never met Petunia,” Tonks said dryly. “She’s always been a colossal bitch to Lily, and she hates magic. And I don’t think her husband is much better.”

“That doesn’t mean she’d hurt a child,” Remus said. Sirius would’ve felt better if he didn’t know Remus was trying to convince himself as much as Tonks.

Tonks laid their head against Remus’ shoulder. “I hope you’re right,” they said.

Remus put his spare arm around Sirius’ shoulder and pulled him close. “Me, too,” he said.

“So,” Sirius said. “Is this a thing again? Are we-”

“We always were,” Tonks said, laying a soft kiss on Sirius’ lips.

Sirius returned the kiss briefly before pulling back. “If this is a dream, waking up will destroy me,” he said hoarsely.

“Then let’s never wake up,” Remus said. He leaned in toward Sirius.

“Best idea I’ve heard all day,” Sirius said. He leaned in to meet Remus and kissed him. Coherent words were ineffective after that, as the triad got lost in each other’s embrace and finally had a proper reunion.


	2. Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exactly one year after James and Lily’s deaths, the newest Marauder comes into the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slight TW for trans male pregnancy, childbirth, and dysphoria. 
> 
> Also, if the prologue didn't make it clear, Sirius and Tonks are in a romantic relationship. They are still first cousins once-removed, but Sirius didn't meet Tonks or Andromeda until he was twelve, and cousin relationships aren't such an uncommon thing for wizards (especially purebloods) anyway - to the point where people actually thought Tonks was in love with Sirius in the books. Just a fair warning if that bothers you.

**31 October 1982 **

“For the last time, Sirius, we’re _not _naming the baby Elvendork!” Tonks said as they took another sip of firewhiskey. The two remaining Marauders and their partner were sitting on the kitchen floor, none of them willing to be the one to bring up James and Lily.

“But it’s unisex,” Sirius said with a small grin. In his current condition, he had to make do with butterbeer, but took a swig just the same.

“It’s also as ridiculous as ‘Nymphadora,’” Tonks retorted. “I’m not putting that burden on my child, thank you very much. Besides, we already have Elvendork the Cat and Owlvendork, do we really need another?” Back at Hogwarts, James and Sirius both named their pets Elvendork. Now that Remus and Tonks had inherited both pets, James’ Elvendork was referred to exclusively as either Elvendork the Cat or simply The Cat and Sirius’ Elvendork’s name was changed to Owlvendork.

“Elvendork didn’t come from the cat or the owl,” Sirius said. As if summoned, Elvendork the Cat walked over and plopped himself on Sirius’ lap. Sirius absently scratched the cat’s ears with his free hand and took another swig of butterbeer. Maybe if he’d pretended it was firewhiskey hard enough, he’d actually get drunk. “You’re no fun, both of you.”

Tonks rolled their eyes. “Our baby does _not _want to be called Elvendork,” they said. “Right, little one?” Tonks put their free hand on Sirius’ belly and was rewarded with a sharp kick. “See? It’s kicking you for even suggesting such a thing.”

Sirius sighed. “Alright, fine, no Elvendork,” he said. He finished the butterbeer and tossed the empty bottle to the side. “Are you two ready for the full moon tomorrow night?” he asked a bit wistfully. It was a sore subject for them all, but not nearly as sore as the one they were all hoping someone else would bring up.

Remus groaned and took another swig of firewhiskey. “Don’t remind me,” he said. It was the first time he’d spoken since they’d all put Teddy to bed and started drinking half an hour ago. “The hangover is going to be bad enough.”

“Sorry,” Sirius said. He felt guilty about how much he longed to be able to join his partners tomorrow night, when it made Remus so miserable. But he couldn’t help it; he longed to transform into Padfoot. Sirius had used his canine body as a refuge for far too long, even before Azkaban, and had become dependent on it.

As Padfoot, Sirius was fully male, as the animagus transformation took the form of a wizard’s soul rather than his physical body. Sirius never truly felt like himself, but the worst of the dysphoria was gone, and it was bearable. Perhaps his mother was right and he was a freak; after all, who felt more at ease as an animal than as a human?

_A p__regnant man, __apparently, _he thought dryly_. _Even for wizards, his condition was reserved for freak show carnivals and trashy erotic fiction. A gimmick. A fetish. A joke. As if being Wizarding Britain’s most wanted felon wasn’t enough, now he could honestly make the front page of _The Quibbler_. Not for the first time, he cursed his bastard father for denying him his much needed Y chromosome.

“Hangovers are Future Remus’ problem,” Tonks declared, cutting into Sirius’ internal pity party. “Right now we need baby names. Sirius could pop at any moment.”

“Thanks for that,” Sirius said dryly. “Any real suggestions, then? Since you both shut down my perfect name.”

Tonks rolled their eyes but shrugged, unwilling to bring back the Elvendork debate until they’d had at least a couple more drinks. “What about the obvious?” they suggested. “James for a boy, Lily for a girl.”

Sirius shook his head. “Too soon,” he said. Even hearing his old friends’ names was still too painful; he didn’t want that particular burden on his child. “Besides, we already have a Harry James. Even if it’s looking like we’ll never see him again.”

“I agree,” Remus said. “Maybe if we have another in a few years-” the looks on both Sirius’ and Tonks’ faces made it quite clear _that _was never happening- “but I’m not ready for that now.”

“I guess you’re right,” Tonks conceded. “But we are _not _having another baby unless you’re the one carrying it, Remus.” Remus allowed himself a small grin, his first of the night. “How do we feel about James and Lily as middle names?”

“I think middle names would be perfect, if you both agree,” Sirius said. “It would honor James or Lily without making it too weird.”

Tonks and Remus both nodded. The three sat quietly with their drinks for awhile, pondering.

“So, are we dead-set against naming the baby after _any _deceased family or friends, or just the most recent?” Remus finally asked a few minutes later.

“I’m not, as long as the name isn’t something my mother would pick out,” Tonks said.

Sirius nodded in agreement. “I’d suggest naming the baby after Mum and Dad, but they both hated their names,” Sirius said. Remus and Tonks both knew Sirius well enough to know he wasn’t referring to Walburga and Orion.

“Yeah, Fleamont and Euphemia are _almost_ as bad as Nymphadora,” Tonks agreed. “What did you have in mind, Remus?”

“Well – what about Hope for a girl?” Remus suggested. He tried to sound casual, but both Sirius and Tonks could tell what it would mean to him to name his daughter after his mother, who had died of a rare and aggressive cancer just before he graduated.

“Hope Lily Black-Lupin,” Sirius said, trying the name out. “I like it.”

“Nice and short, not too weird but not so common she’ll have a dozen other Hopes in her class,” Tonks said. “Good choice, Remus.”

Remus smiled. “That’s the girl name settled, then,” he said. “Now, what if it’s a boy?”

Tonks began to reply, but was interrupted by Sirius’ sudden declaration of “Merlin’s bollocks!” Insulted, Elvendork the Cat leaped off Sirius’ lap and hissed before leaving the room.

Tonks huffed. “You could’ve at least heard my suggestion first,” they snapped.

Sirius shook his head. “It’s not that,” he gasped. “You were right before.” He gasped again and groaned in pain. “The baby’s coming. Now.”

* * *

“Alright, Sirius, one last push,” Tonks urged.

“BE GRATEFUL IF I DON’T I RIP YOUR BLOODY BOLLOCKS OFF ONCE THIS IS OVER, MOONY!” Sirius shouted as he pushed.

Remus winced slightly, but wisely said nothing.

“He doesn’t mean it anymore than I did, Remus,” Tonks said. Considering the hell Tonks went through having Teddy, that wasn't very reassuring. “Alright, here it comes.” Sure enough, Sirius and Remus head a loud cry as Tonks pulled the baby out. “Remus, want to cut the cord?”

Remus nodded, left Sirius’ side, and gently cut the umbilical cord with a small severing charm.

“Is the baby okay?” Sirius asked weakly.

“She’s fine,” Tonks said. “Congratulations, Dad, we have a daughter.”

“That’s what both our mothers thought about twenty years ago,” Sirius pointed out, but he was smiling.

“Point taken,” Tonks said. They cleaned the baby off with a quick scorgify, wrapped her in a blanket, and put her in Sirius’ arms. “But regardless of how she identifies later in life, for now I’m content to assume she’s a girl. We never actually got around to picking a boy name.”

“Point taken,” Sirius grinned.

“Should we wake the new big brother?” Remus asked. Teddy had, miraculously, slept through the entire affair. Much like his Papa Moony, Teddy could sleep through the house falling down, especially this close to the full moon.

“Absolutely not,” Sirius said. “He can meet her in the morning. I’m exhausted.” He smiled at his daughter. _Welcome to the world, Hope Lily. _

* * *

“Teddy, this is your new baby sister, Hope,” Tonks said. Teddy was on their hip looking down at Hope sleeping in her cot.

“Bee-bee!” Teddy giggled. His hair turned a bright turquoise.

“I think he approves,” Remus said. “Should we get going?”

Sirius shifted to dog form and barked agreeably.

“Remember, Teddy, Dada Padfoot being here is a secret,” Tonks said. “Once we get to Gran and Gramps’ house, he’s Snuffles.”

Teddy nodded solemnly, as if he actually understood this speech, and Tonks handed him to Remus. “I’ll see you over there, gentlemen,” Tonks said, and they picked up Hope and disappeared with a soft crack.

Remus, Teddy, and “Snuffles” went down stairs to use the fireplace, as neither Remus or Sirius could side-along apparate, and by the time they stepped out of the fireplace at the Tonks house, Ted was already cooing over Hope and Andromeda was lecturing her child.

“You could’ve called me over last night, you know,” she said. “I don’t care what time of night, I’m your mother, and to give birth without a healer-”

“I’m fine, Mum,” Tonks sighed. “I had that potion you brewed for me and everything. Look, here’s the boys.”

Remus waved at Andromeda, put Teddy down, and collapsed into an armchair.

“And you got a dog last night, too?” Andromeda narrowed her eyes at Sirius. She liked animals well enough, but not in the house - they were far too messy.

“Yes, he was outside digging in the garbage, poor thing,” Tonks said. “Don’t worry, he’s house trained. His name’s Snuffles.”

“Snuffles” rolled his eyes at the ridiculous name Remus had picked out for him, but luckily, Andromeda didn't notice.

“Ridiculous name,” Andromeda echoed Sirius' thoughts. She still didn't look happy about having a dog uninvited in her home, but then Teddy pulled the dog into a big hug and her eyes warmed. Like most grandmothers, she was far softer on her grandson than she’d ever been on Tonks.

“The baby’s waking up,” Ted said. He brought Hope over so Andromeda could see. “Oh, look, dear, she has your eyes.” Sure enough, unlike her mother and brother, who had both inherited Ted’s warm brown eyes, Hope had the classic Black family steel gray eyes like Andromeda and Sirius.

“She looks like a Black already,” Andromeda said, not sure how she felt about that. “No metamorphmagus powers, I see.”

“No,” Tonks said as casually as they could. “It’s probably for the best. One shape-shifting toddler is hard enough.”

Andromeda laughed at the thought of her child and their partner chasing after _two_ Teddies. “Good point,” she said. “What about the full moon tonight?”

Remus and Tonks exchanged a look. “We wanted to talk to you about that, actually,” Remus said.

Andromeda held back a sigh and braced herself. From the second Tonks and Remus had announced their second pregnancy, Remus had been obsessed with the fear that the baby would be a werewolf. While Andromeda understood his concern, it got to be a bit tiring after awhile – after all, even if Hope was a werewolf, there wasn’t anything Andromeda or any other healer could do about it.

“There’s no way to know until it happens,” she said as gently as she could. “It doesn’t seem likely Hope will be a werewolf, but there hasn’t been enough research into lycanthropy to know for sure.”

“I know,” Remus said. “Merlin knows I’ve pestered you with that question enough times in the past few months. I was just thinking – maybe you should take precautions, just in case. I don’t want to see you, Ted, or Teddy get bit.”

“What kind of precautions?” Andromeda asked, raising an eyebrow. “I hope you don’t mean put her with you – don’t take this the wrong way, Remus, but -”

“No, of course not,” Remus said hastily. “Even if she is a werewolf, she’ll be so small that I’d still hurt her. No, I mean, when we had Teddy, we kept him locked in a charmed room, just in case he transformed.” That wasn’t exactly the full story; James and Peter had stayed with Teddy in their animagus forms while Sirius took care of Remus alone, but of course Andromeda and Ted weren’t to know that.

“That’s not a bad idea, actually,” Andromeda said. “We can use your old room, Dora.”

“How are we going to know if she transforms or not?” Ted asked. “I don’t want to leave her alone all night if we don’t have to. She’s only a day old.”

“I’ll put up a transparent wall,” Tonks said. “You can watch her, and if she doesn’t transform, you can go get her, no harm done.”

“What do you mean ‘you?’ You’re not going to be with her?” Ted looked incredulous.

“I need to be with Remus,” Tonks said. “I can’t leave him alone, if the enchantments protecting the saferoom fail -”

“No, you need to be with your daughter,” Ted insisted. “I’ll stay with Remus, and if anything goes wrong, I'll come get you.”

Tonks opened their mouth to protest, but Remus cut them off.

“It’s a good idea,” Remus said. “Thanks, Ted.”

Tonks glared at Remus, but he shook his head. The stubborn git had clearly made up his mind.

“In that case, I’ll invite Minerva over,” Andromeda said. “She’ll be dying to meet Hope, anyway, and we could use another pair of hands.”

“Good idea,” Tonks said. “Remus, are you _sure _you’re okay with this?”

“He’ll be fine,” Ted said. “We’ll make it a boy’s night in.”

Tonks rolled their eyes. Trust their father to make a joke about this.

“Thanks, Dad,” they said. “I’ll go set up the room. Remus, why don’t you come help me?” The look they shot at Remus made it clear this wasn’t a request.

“Remus should rest,” Andromeda cut in, but Remus shook his head.

“No, it’s okay, I’ll go help,” he said hastily.

When they were upstairs and alone, Tonks whirled on Remus. “What the _hell_?” They demanded. “You know my dad can’t be _with _you, right? And Sirius can’t be with him around, either, my parents think he’s just a dog and they’d have us arrested for animal cruelty.”

“I know,” Remus said. “But your dad’s right. If Hope is a werewolf, she’ll need you more than me. I’ve been doing this for years. It’ll suck, but I’m used to it. She’s just a baby.”

“She’s _not _a werewolf!” Tonks snapped. “Mum just said she doesn’t know because she’s a healer, and being cryptic like that is part of the job description! There’s no way-”

“You’re probably right,” Remus said. “But you know we can’t risk it.”

Tonks grumbled. “I’ve got this, you go back down and get some rest,” they said. “You’ll need it, especially without me.”

“Love you,” Remus said with an apologetic smile.

Tonks rolled their eyes. “Love you too, you noble prat,” they said.

* * *

_This is cruel, _Tonks lamented later that evening. _And most likely unnecessary. Damn you, Remus, for talking me into this. _

Hope had been alone in the safe room for nearly an hour at this point and hadn’t stopped crying since Tonks first set her down in the cot. Though she was much more content than either Teddy or Harry, who had both spent every waking moment sleeping or crying, had been at that age, apparently that only applied when she was being held.

“The moon’s almost up,” Minerva said. Tonks’ godmother had arrived as soon as she could get her afternoon classes covered, and she had joined Tonks keeping vigil over Hope while Andromeda read Teddy a story downstairs. “We can get her soon.”

“This is stupid,” Tonks groaned. “She’s not a werewolf, and she needs her mother. I’m going to -”

What exactly Tonks was going to do, Minerva never found out, because at precisely that moment, Hope let out a shrill, bloodcurdling scream no infant should’ve been capable of.

Tonks and Minerva watched in horror as Hope’s body began to twist. Bones could be heard cracking and reforming into a canine shape, and the screams morphed into a loud, tortured howl.

Remus had been right. Hope was a werewolf.

Instinctively, forgetting Minerva was still there, Tonks ran into the room, slammed the door behind them, and shifted into their fox form.

Andromeda, still out of breath from racing up the stairs, whirled on Minerva. “Did you teach Dora the animagus transformation without telling me?” she demanded.

“Of course not,” Minerva said. She sounded a bit hurt, as if she would’ve loved nothing more than to teach Tonks the animagus transformation, but never got the chance.

Before Andromeda could respond, Snuffles the dog ran up the stairs, stood up on two paws, fiddled the door open with his forepaws, and ran to Tonks’ side. The door slammed behind him and Teddy, who’d been trying to follow Snuffles, began to cry loudly. Dog and fox leaned over the tiny wolf cub, nuzzling it and licking it gently.

Hope, however, barely seemed to notice them there, a far cry from the unrestrained rage that defined a normal werewolf. She kneaded her paws against the other canines and whined, but did not attempt to attack them – she didn’t look capable of moving very far at all. Like an actual newborn wolf cub, she was completely helpless.

“Doggy!” Teddy whined, pounding on the door with his small chubby fists.

“Not now, Teddy!” Andromeda snapped. She picked him up and pulled him away from the door, ignoring his crying and kicking. Helpless though she may be, Andromeda had no doubt a nip from Hope would still prove as contagious as any other werewolf bite, and she was _not _ going to be the one to tell Remus that _both _of his children were now werewolves. “What do you reckon is going on?” She asked Minerva.

Minerva shook her head. “I don’t know,” she admitted. Suddenly, an old rumor came back to her; nothing anyone had ever been able to prove, and most likely nonsense, but if such a thing were possible, there was only one person Minerva could think of who might’ve actually cared for a werewolf cub. “But I know who might. I’ll be right back.”

With a soft crack, Minerva disappeared, and Andromeda was left alone with her angry grandson, who was still demanding to pet the doggy _now_.

Andromeda tried to summon the last of her patience. Teddy was only eighteen months old, it wasn’t his fault he didn’t understand the gravity of the situation. “You can play with the dog later, Teddy,” she said. She carried him back down to the living room and turned on the television.

For a muggle invention, the television was remarkably like magic; although it was only a news station, Teddy stopped pitching a fit immediately and sat down in front of the box, utterly transfixed by the pictures and people on the screen. Even Minerva’s reappearance a few minutes later didn’t faze him.

“Hagrid’s on his way,” Minerva informed Andromeda after she caught her breath.

“Hagrid? The big guy at Hogwarts?” Andromeda asked, puzzled. Hagrid had seemed nice enough in Andromeda’s school days, but a bit wild, and to be honest, not terribly intelligent. She didn’t see how he was going to be any help.

Minerva nodded. “He has some experience in these matters,” she said. “If he can’t help, no one can.”

“He has experience with a newborn werewolf cub?” Andromeda raised her eyebrow. “As far as I know, Hope is the only one that’s ever existed.” Sadly, most very young children who were attacked by werewolves didn't survive the attack to become infected. Remus had been one of the youngest children to have been attacked by a werewolf and live to tell the tale, and had survived only because his father knew how to fight his attacker.

“Not specifically, no, but he handles, er, similar cases all the time,” Minerva said.

Andromeda realized Minerva was trying very hard not to call Hope a “magical creature,” and appreciated the effort.

“Can he be trusted to keep his mouth shut?” she asked. “If the wrong people find out about Hope, nobody will believe it was genetic. They’ll assume Remus bit her and haul him and off to Azkaban, and quite possibly have Dora charged with child neglect.”

“Hagrid is a good man, and a loyal friend,” Minerva said, tactfully avoiding the question.

Andromeda sighed. _Fantastic._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A quick note on Tonks' gender: they are nonbinary and use they/them pronouns, but refer to themselves as Teddy and Hope's mother because that's just easier for them than making up a new title, and who says mothers have to be women anyway? Also, they have given their parents and Remus permission to call them Dora, and do not consider it to be misgendering if those three people call them that.


	3. Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hagrid cares for Hope. Remus finds out Hope's a werewolf and doesn't take it well. The Marauders are terrible at making up convincing cover stories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hagrid's accent being written as "a'ost'ophe 'n e'ery wor'" annoys the hell out of me and makes it very difficult to read. I'm not doing that. I'm going with the assumption that most everyone reading a Harry Potter fanfic has read and/or watched the books and/or movies, and therefore already know what Hagrid's accent sounds like.

**1 November 1982**

Just when Andromeda didn’t think she’d be able to take another second of waiting, she heard an engine cut outside the house and a hard knock on the door.

“That’ll be Hagrid,” Minerva said, sounding relieved.

Andromeda took a breath and went to let Hagrid in. He was as massive and wild looking as she remembered him from Hogwarts, but his eyes were kind, and Minerva trusted him – that would have to be enough.

“Thank you for coming,” Andromeda said. She held the door open and he stepped inside.

“It’s no trouble,” Hagrid said. “Where’s the little pup?”

“This way,” Andromeda said. Minerva stayed downstairs with Teddy while Andromeda led Hagrid up the stairs and to the safe room. Tonks and Sirius were still wrapped protectively around Hope, but moved just enough so that Hagrid could see.

“Careful,” Andromeda said. “She’s tiny and weak, but most likely still contagious.”

“I’ll be alright,” Hagrid said. “I’ve been bitten by one before, it did nothin’ to me.”

“Bitten by a _werewolf_?” Andromeda narrowed her eyes. It wasn’t possible – Hagrid must’ve mistaken a wolf animagus or a regular wolf for a werewolf. Why had Minerva recommended him if he couldn’t tell the difference? “I’ve never heard of such a thing. No human has ever been bitten without being infected, so unless – oh.” She’d been about to say “unless you’re not human,” but it occurred to her that maybe he _wasn’t _fully human. Hagrid looked like a human, except no human was eleven feet tall.

Hagrid looked apprehensive. “Er-”

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” Andromeda said. She didn’t care if he was half flobberworm, so long as he could help Hope. “Thank you coming over to help. What do you want me to do?”

“Er- hang on,” Hagrid said. He bent over and gently examined Hope’s entire body. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” he said after a moment. “She’s starving. She needs milk.”

“Seriously?” Andromeda asked. It was too simple. There had to be more to it than that. Hope was the youngest werewolf ever to exist, whatever was wrong couldn’t be solved by something as simple as milk.

Hagrid nodded. “She’s not big enough for meat yet,” he said, as if it were obvious. “I brought some milk replacer over just in case – here.” He pulled a large metal tin out of one of his coat pockets.

Well, Andromeda thought, it wasn’t like they had a whole lot of options, and it couldn’t hurt to try. Andromeda summoned the eyedropper from the bathroom and Hagrid gently filled it with milk and fed Hope.

To Andromeda’s amazement, Hope eagerly drank a few ounces, curled back up next to Sirius, and promptly fell asleep.

“She’ll need more every other hour or so,” Hagrid said. “But I think she’ll be alright. Good thing yeh have dogs, that’ll help.”

Sirius almost looked smug, and Tonks rolled their eyes. If Hagrid noticed, though, he didn’t mention it.

“Incredible,” Andromeda said. “She was just hungry – if the same is true for all werewolves, this could have major implications for the search for a cure for lycanthropy – but it doesn’t matter right now. Right now, my child is going to explain to me exactly how, when, and why they learned the animagus transformation.”

“Without telling me!” Minerva added.

Tonks dipped their head, gently pulled away from Sirius and Hope, and morphed back to human.

“First of all, Hagrid, thank you for helping us with Hope,” Tonks said. They allowed themselves a small grin. “But for the record, I’m a fox, not a dog. I thought you were an expert,” they teased.

Hagrid chuckled. “My mistake,” he said. “I was a bit preoccupied with the baby.”

“Fair enough,” Tonks said. They turned to their mother. “Can the explanation wait until tomorrow?” they asked. Andromeda looked like she wanted to protest, but Tonks hastily added, “I promise I’ll tell you everything, but Dad will want a first hand account, too, and I don’t want to tell it twice. It’s kind of a long story.”

Andromeda sighed. “Alright, but not a second later!” she said.

“I promise,” said Tonks. They turned to Minerva. “Auntie, can you keep Hope warm for a few minutes? Snuffles really needs a walk, or he’ll make a mess all over the place.”

“You’re really thinking of the _dog _right now?” Andromeda was incredulous.

“Well, the dog is helping us keep Hope comfortable, it’s the least I can do,” Tonks said. “It’ll just be a few minutes. Unless you’d prefer I didn’t-”

“Just make it quick!” Andromeda snapped. Even with magic available to clean everything up, the idea of a dog making a mess in her tidy house was unbearable.

“Go on, Tonks, I’ll handle things here,” Minerva said. She shifted to cat form and swapped places with Sirius.

“Thanks, Auntie,” Tonks said. “Come on, Snuffles.”

Sirius was clearly reluctant to leave Hope behind, but obediently followed Tonks outside. Once they were a reasonable distance from the house, Tonks disillusioned both of them and Sirius shifted back to human.

“Okay, we’ve got a few minutes to come up with a cover story,” Tonks said. “Any ideas?”

* * *

The worst part of the full moon, in Remus’ opinion, was the amnesia. Even more than the pain, sickness, and losing his mind, having an entire night once every month where he was completely unaware of his actions was his own personal hell. If the safeguards he and his partners had put in place failed, he would very likely kill someone, or worse, turn them into the monster he was, and he may never even know it.

Still, Remus didn’t need to know exactly what had gone on the previous night to know it was the worst full moon he’d had in a long time – nearly a year, in fact, since Tonks learned the animagus transformation and was able to keep him company. The pain and fresh scars all over his body told him that.

The mattress he’d laid down on just before moonset was torn to shreds, the pieces scattered across the room and covered in blood. The wolf did not like being cooped up, but even with the enchantments covering the wood around the cottage, Remus did not trust himself to go out there alone. If the protections on the basement failed, the ones in the wood would hopefully keep him contained for the rest of the night. If the protections on the wood failed, there was nothing left to protect the rest of the world from him.

Groaning, Remus found the biggest piece of mattress he could reach and laid his head on it. He had almost drifted off to sleep when he heard the basement door open.

“Remus?” he heard a gentle voice call out. “Remus, are you awake?”

“Barely,” Remus said. He forced himself to sit up and watched Tonks and Sirius come down the stairs. Sirius conjured a stuffed armchair and helped Remus into it, while Tonks began looking over Remus’ wounds.

“Thanks,” Remus said. He winced as Tonks prodded a particularly painful scar.

“Sorry,” Tonks said. “Mum should look at some of these, but I’ve stopped the bleeding.” They summoned a set of comfortable clothes from the bedroom and Sirius helped Remus into them.

“How did it go last night?” Remus asked.

Tonks and Sirius both avoided his eyes, and Remus noticed their facial expressions for the first time. Sirius looked as grim as he’d been fresh out of Azkaban, and Tonks was blinking away tears.

“I’m so sorry, Remus,” Tonks said. Sirius didn’t look like he trusted himself to speak. “I should’ve listened to you. You were right.”

Remus’ heart sank. “You mean Hope is-” He couldn’t say it.

Tonks nodded. “She’s a werewolf, Remus,” Tonks said.

If Remus hadn’t already been sitting, he would’ve collapsed. “No!” he cried. “No, please – tell me this is just your sick idea of a joke, I won’t even be angry, but please, tell me it’s not true...”

“I’m sorry,” Tonks said again.

Remus let out a choked sob, and Tonks and Sirius arranged themselves on either side of him, holding him close and gently rubbing his back.

“Stay with us, Moony,” Sirius said softly. “It’s going to be okay-”

Remus glared at him. “Don’t you _dare _tell me it’s going to be okay!” he snapped. “Our daughter is a monster, and it’s all our fault! We should never have let this happen!” He whirled on Tonks. “And you! You told me it would be okay, you said I was overreacting!”

“You are _not _playing the ‘I was right all along’ card right now!” Tonks snapped back. Sirius glared at Tonks and shook his head, but they ignored him.

“Of course not!” Remus shouted. “But you made me start to _believe _you! I – I really thought-” he lost himself to the tears.

“I know. I did, too,” Tonks said.

Remus shook his head. “It’s not your fault. I should’ve known better. I let myself think there was a happy ending here for me.”

“Yeah? And who says there isn’t?” Sirius challenged. “Yeah, our daughter is a werewolf. That really sucks. But there’s nothing we can do about that. So we can either sit around here and mope, or we can keep doing what we’ve been doing – make safety plans for the full moons and love each other and our children unconditionally in between.”

“It’s not that simple, and you know it,” Remus sighed. “Even if we do all that, she’s still a danger to herself, and to others – just like me. She’ll never be accepted in this world. People are going to hate her for something she didn’t choose and can’t control-”

“Remus, don’t take this the wrong way, but that’s not unique to werewolves,” Tonks cut in. “Sirius and I aren’t exactly welcomed in this world with open arms, either, and we’re so openly hated in the muggle world they have laws against people like us. None of us are going to be accepted by the rest of the world. That’s _their _problem, not ours. The best we can do is be ourselves, and try to be happy in spite of them.”

“I know, but that’s different,” Remus said. “You’re not hurting anyone being who you are.”

“And neither are you,” Sirius said. “You are taking all the precautions you need to, and we will do the same with Hope. You are _not _Fenrir Greyback, and we’re all in this together. Unless you’re planning on running off again?” Sirius’ tone lightened with the last question, but Remus knew he meant it just as much.

“No,” Remus promised. “Never again.” He’d never forgive himself for trying to run off when Tonks got pregnant with Teddy, and he’d never stop being grateful to James for giving him the kick in the arse he needed to come back. “I’d like to see Hope now,” he said.

“Just a minute,” Tonks said. “We all have a lot of explaining to do, and we need to get our story straight.”

“What? Why?” Remus asked.

“Tonks screwed up,” Sirius said. “When they saw Hope transform, they shifted straight to fox form and ran after her.”

Tonks reached around Remus' back and whacked Sirius on the back of his head. “You weren’t that much more subtle, standing up on two paws and opening the door all by yourself!” they snapped. “But yes, now my mum, Minerva, and Hagrid all know I’m an animagus, and they’re demanding an explanation. Instinct took over, I didn’t even realize what I was doing.”

“Hagrid?” Remus asked.

“We’ll give you the full story later, but he was very helpful with Hope last night,” Sirius said. “Plus, apparently he’s immune to lycanthropy.”

“Right,” Remus said. He would ask for more of this story later, but his head was already spinning. “So what’s our story?”

“Well,” Sirius said. “We came up with two options. Hear us out before you say yes or no to either of them.”

Remus nodded. “Go on,” he said.

“Option one: we tell them a modified version of the truth. We say that Tonks learned the animagus transformation to keep you company on full moons,” Sirius said.

“But there are a few holes in that story,” Tonks said. “Minerva will still want to know why I didn’t come to her for help, and we don’t have an easy answer for that. We could say that I learned it before I was of age and didn’t want to get her in trouble, but I’m not sure they would buy that.”

“They would never believe that you did it on your own,” Sirius agreed. Tonks raised an eyebrow, and Sirius quickly amended. “Obviously you _could, _but we did everything together; no way would anyone believe you left me, or even James and Peter, out.”

“Nice save,” Tonks said, rolling their eyes. “Anyway, if they thought for even a second Sirius was an animagus, they’d snitch to the ministry, or force us to, in a misguided attempt to bring a murderer to justice.”

“Which brings us to option two,” Sirius said. “We tell them everything, so they don’t do something stupid trying to do the right thing.”

“Everything?” Remus asked. “We tell them that Tonks became an animagus to break you out of Azkaban and we are still harboring you because you were actually innocent all long, and we know without a shadow of a doubt that it’s true and there’s no bias on our part at all?”

“Pretty much,” Sirius said.

Remus sighed. “Those are both terrible options,” he said.

“It’s the best we could come up with,” Tonks said. “We’ve both agreed on telling the truth, but only if we _all _agree. If you don’t trust them, we’ll lie.”

Remus thought for a minute. “Are you sure they’ll believe us if we tell them the truth?” he asked. “If I wasn’t living it, I’m not sure _I _would believe it.”

“My parents and Minerva will,” Tonks said. “I’m not sure about Hagrid, but we’re already trusting him to keep Hope’s lycanthropy a secret.”

“We’ll lose Hope, and Teddy, and each other if the wrong people find out,” Remus reminded them.

“I know,” Sirius said. “But if we give him half a story, he might fill in the blanks and act impulsively. He’s never exactly been subtle.”

Remus nodded, remembering Hagrid from the Order days. He was a good man and a brave fighter, but he didn’t always think things through. To be fair, with his size and strength, he rarely had to.

“Well, Dumbledore trusted him with the Order,” Remus said. “I suppose that means we can give him a chance.”

* * *

“So let me get this straight,” Andromeda said once Remus, Tonks, and Sirius finished their tale. “You became an illegal animagus to break your boyfriend out of prison because he says he’s innocent, harbored him in your home in his own illegal animagus form disguised as your pet dog, and had another child with him?”

“Well, technically I got pregnant first and hid normally until the baby was born, because I couldn’t transform pregnant, but yeah, that’s the gist,” Sirius said.

Andromeda glared at him and turned back to Tonks.

“How do you know he’s really innocent?” she asked. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Dora, but-”

“But you think I’m blinded by my love for him,” Tonks finished. “Believe me, the thought occurred to me. But too much doesn’t add up; Sirius wasn’t even given a trial, and they only found Peter’s finger. They didn’t even examine Sirius’ wand. If we weren’t fighting a war, that never would’ve been sufficient evidence to lock someone up for murder.”

“I believe you,” Minerva said. “I trust your judgment, Tonks.”

“Thank you, Auntie,” Tonks said.

“I believe you, too,” Ted said. “But Sirius, if you ever lie to Dora like that again, even if it’s to ‘protect’ them, you’ll wish you were still in Azkaban. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” Sirius said sheepishly.

“Good,” Ted said. He turned back to his wife. “Andromeda, dear, what are you thinking?”

Andromeda sighed. “I believe you’re innocent, Sirius, but Dora and Remus, it was a stupid thing to do. You could've gotten caught. What do you think it would’ve done to me, and your father and Minerva? What do you think would’ve happened to Teddy?”

“We had to,” Tonks said. “If the worst happened and we’d gotten caught, Teddy would’ve still had you, Dad, and Auntie. Sirius had no one. No one was going to let us open the case back up – I tried that. No one questioned the story. No one was even looking for Peter, or even trying. We couldn’t leave Sirius there.”

“Teddy is your son!” Andromeda snapped. “And now you have a daughter to think of as well! You can’t go off saving the world and leaving them behind! Your children have to come first!”

Tonks groaned, suddenly realizing what this was really all about. “We are _not _ talking about me being quitting the auror force again,” they said. “It’s not going to happen. I know what we did with Sirius was reckless, but we had to do it. How exactly would I have been putting Teddy first if I let one of his parents rot in Azkaban for a crime he didn’t commit? That’s not the example I’m going to set for him, or for Hope. It’s not the example _you _set for me.”

Andromeda sighed. “Fine, but next time don’t be such a Gryffindor about it!” she snapped.

Tonks knew that was the best they were going to get from their mother right then, and didn’t push it. Andromeda would come around later, they were sure. Instead they turned to Hagrid. “What do you think?” they asked him. “Do you believe us?”

“Well, it’s a wild story, but I reckon it’s too crazy not to be true,” Hagrid said. He gave the triad a warm smile. “Sirius, now that I know you’re decent, do yeh want your bike back?”

Sirius’ eyes lit up. “You still have it?” he asked.

Hagrid chuckled and nodded. “How do you think I got here?” he asked. “But I don’t have much other use for it, it’s mostly been collectin’ dust since I dropped Harry off at his relatives’.”

“Wait – you dropped Harry off there directly? You know where he is?” Sirius asked.

Minerva facepalmed, and Hagrid groaned. “I should not have told yeh that,” he mumbled.

“Hagrid,” Tonks said as calmly as they could muster. “Where is Harry?”

“Dumbledore wants him with his relatives,” Minerva cut in before Hagrid could do any more damage. “He thinks it’s safest there.”

“He’s obviously never met Petunia Dursley,” Tonks snapped. “Auntie, where is Harry? Is he safe? Is he happy?”

“Albus told me he’s having the house watched,” Minerva said. “I’m sure if something was wrong, he’d-”

“I’m not so sure,” Andromeda cut in. “I know you all love Dumbledore, and I respect him plenty myself,” she added before any of the others could protest. “He is a great man, and I am certain he’s doing his best to make sure Harry is safe, but he’s not a god. Wouldn’t it be prudent to check ourselves? Just to make sure, and to set our minds at ease.”

Tonks flashed their mother a grateful smile. “Please, Auntie,” they said. “Just a quick check. If he’s safe and happy, I won’t pester you about it again, no matter how badly we’d all like to see him.”

Minerva sighed. “Alright,” she said. Her own impression of the Dursleys was, after all, not exactly stellar. “I’ll go check. But I’m sure he’s perfectly fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Expectations are such dangerous things, aren't they, Minerva? Next time: we find out about Harry's living situation for the past year. Spoilers: he's not been having a great time. 
> 
> Note on Dumbledore: This is neither a "Dumbledore is a god" nor a Dumbledore-bash fic. I'm doing my best to write a nuanced, well-meaning but flawed Dumbledore. As Sirius said in OOTP, the world isn't split up into good people and death eaters.


	4. Kidnapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minerva finds out about Harry's living situation, and she and the rest of the family won't stand for it. The Dursleys get a healthy dose of karma, and the Black-Lupin family is increased by two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for child abuse.

**6 November 1982**

The following Saturday morning, Vernon Dursley was not at all pleased to see a very familiar tabby cat on his garden wall when he went to get the post. Vernon had never liked animals anyway, and although he knew it was irrational, he’d come to associate this particular cat in his mind with everything strange and unnatural that had happened since he and Petunia had taken the ungrateful brat in.

_Should’ve listened to Marge, _ he thought wistfully. _The freak_ _ wouldn’t _ _have _ _be able to infect Dudley from an orphanage… _

Loath as Vernon was to admit it, not _every _ bit of freakishness was directly the boy’s fault. Harry had been in his cupboard when that dessert tray floated across the kitchen right to Dudley’s plate, and when the plate of vegetables Petunia was trying to force Dudley to eat spontaneously combusted. Of course, Petunia had blamed the brat anyway, and Vernon didn’t dare contradict her; if his son _was_ one of them_, _ he was _not _going to be the one to break the news to his wife. Besides, the little freak still deserved it for passing in his affliction to decent, normal people. 

Vernon collected his post and glared at the cat as he went back inside. The cat glared right back. Was this normal cat behavior? Perhaps he should call animal control and get the creature taken care of once and for all.

Back inside the house, Petunia was coddling Dudley while he threw his usual morning tantrum and kicked her repeatedly.

“It’s alright, popkin, breakfast is coming soon,” Petunia cooed. “Get the boy Vernon, will you?” she asked. “He needs to start breakfast. Calm down, Diddykins, it’s alright...”

Vernon went to the cupboard under the stairs and pounded on the door. His tiny nephew opened the door and looked at him, blinking sleepiness from his eyes. “Go help your aunt in the kitchen!” Vernon snapped.

Harry quickly obeyed. Despite being a month younger than Dudley, he never disobeyed or threw a tantrum – he’d quickly learned the consequences of such behavior.

Vernon took Dudley from Petunia so that she could once again try to teach the idiot boy how to use the oven, and as he settled his son on the couch to watch television, he put the cat out of his mind. Surely the cat’s reappearance was just a coincidence; most likely that old bat down the street had taken in another stray. There was no use getting worked up over superstition.

* * *

Much like Privet Drive, which, with its cookie cutter houses and equally boring inhabitants, looked much the same as it had a year ago, Harry had hardly grown at all since being left with Petunia. In fact, if anything, he’d _lost _weight – the poor boy was thin as a twig and looked even smaller than Teddy, who was nine months his junior. The effect was only exacerbated by his clothes, which were so large they barely stayed on his tiny frame.

That, combined with Harry cooking on a muggle stove and sleeping in a bloody _cupboard, _would’ve been more than enough evidence to justify Minerva running in, taking Harry, and leaving, preferably leaving a few nasty curses for the Dursleys to deal with, but Minerva forced herself to keep watching. Though there was no question in her mind that Harry could _not _stay with those people, no matter what Albus Percival Wulfric Double Damn Him Brian Dumbledore had to say about it, it would be easier to help Harry recover from the ordeal if she knew the full extent of it, or at least as much as possible.

Unfortunately, it only got worse from there. The Dursley boy quickly got bored of the television and went out into the kitchen to pester his mother again. After a few minutes of whining and punching his mother got him nowhere, he decided to take out his rage on Harry and pushed him hard toward the stove.

For a heart stopping second, Harry lost his balance, but before Minerva could so much as take out her wand, Harry was floating in midair. Petunia screamed and pulled her son behind her, and Vernon came rushing out into the kitchen.

Vernon’s face went purple and he yanked Harry down by his ankle, making the boy land on the floor with a hard thud but luckily missing the oven, and began shouting at him.

Instinctively, Minerva hissed. This was getting painful to watch, but she had to keep on. Tonks, Sirius, and Remus deserved to know the full story, and Minerva had no right to complain – she knew now that she should’ve looked into this much earlier, or even defied Dumbledore from the beginning and brought Harry directly to Tonks.

When the oaf finally finished shouting at Harry about fifteen minutes later, he grabbed the boy’s arm and dragged him hard to the cupboard before throwing him in and locking the door.

Minerva glared at the Dursleys one more time and turned to leave. She’d seen more than enough.

* * *

“I will _kill _them,” Sirius growled when Minerva finished telling the others about Harry’s living situation. “No, first I will torture them in a way that makes Bellatrix look sane, _then _I will kill them, as slowly and painfully as I can manage.”

“I’ll help,” Hagrid offered. His huge fists were clenched with rage, and it looked like it took every bit of self restraint he had not to go to the Dursleys’ house right then and there and beat them both within an inch of their lives.

“No, you two can torture, _I’ll_ do the killing,” Tonks argued. “I’m an auror, I know how to make it look like an accident.”

Remus knew he should be the one to cut in here and calm everyone down, but it wasn’t easy when he had the very unethical desire for the Dursleys, a locked room, and a full moon.

“As much as I’d like to agree with you all,” Ted cut in. “Killing the Dursleys won’t do a bit of difference. We need to get Harry out, _without _any of us going to Azkaban. How are we going to do that?”

“I already said I can make it look like an accident,” Tonks grumbled.

“We’ll keep that as a plan B,” Andromeda said, only half joking. “Have you talked to Dumbledore about this, Minerva?”

Minerva shook her head. “I don’t plan to,” she said. “At least not until it’s over and done with. Albus was _very _insistent that we leave Harry with those people, and did not give me a clear explanation as to why. I’m not sure if we’d convince him, or if he’d put the house under Fidelius so that none of us can ever go back.”

The others stared at Minerva.

“You think he knows?” Tonks asked their godmother, horrified.

“No!” Hagrid insisted. “Dumbledore’s a great man, he would never...”

“I don’t think he knows the full extent of it. I don’t think he’d ever let Harry get hurt on purpose,” Minerva clarified. “But we’ve already tried reasoning with him about this, and he just keeps getting more stubborn. For some reason, he really believes Harry is safer with those people, and he won’t tell us why. So, in this case, I believe it is better to ask forgiveness than seek permission.”

“You’re such a Gryffindor,” Andromeda said, but she nodded in agreement. “Harry’s lucky his accidental magic saved him this time, but it’s not reliable enough to depend on it to protect him for however long it takes Dumbledore to get his head out of his arse and listen to reason. We need to get Harry out – tonight, if possible.”

“You and I are both working tonight,” Ted reminded his wife. “But I can call out if I need to.”

Andromeda shook her head. “Neither of us should call out, if we can help it. It would put suspicion on us if word got out that Harry Potter went missing the same night we both called out of work.”

“We’ll keep you both on the back burner, but either way we’ll make tonight work somehow,” Sirius said. “That leaves us a few hours to come up with a plan. Has anyone got any ideas?”

“We should use as little magic as possible,” Tonks said. “Anything we do magically can leave traces, and we don’t want to risk getting caught.”

“Right,” Remus said. “That means one of us should go on the motorcycle, if you don’t mind us using it, Hagrid.”

“Of course not,” Hagrid said. “I’d offer to go myself, but I don’t think I’d blend in very well.”

“I’ll go,” Sirius and Tonks said at the same time.

“You can’t drive the motorcycle,” Sirius reminded Tonks. He had tried to teach Tonks to drive the motorcycle many times since he first bought it, but Tonks simply lacked the coordination necessary to keep it upright, even with magic.

“_You _can’t side-along apparate if anything goes wrong,” Tonks reminded him. Side-along apparition was a very difficult and dangerous skill to master, and usually only wizards whose jobs required the skill – such as aurors and healers – ever bothered to learn it.

“Well, my animagus form is more inconspicuous than yours,” Sirius said. “No offense, but most muggles aren’t accustomed to seeing a pink fox skulking about the neighborhood.”

“I don’t _need _to be inconspicuous as a fox, I can look like any vaguely humanoid thing I want!” Tonks retorted. “I only bothered with the animagus transformation to help you two idiots!”

“Children, stop bickering,” Remus interrupted. “I think you both should go.”

“That makes sense,” Ted said. “You both have perfect disguises, so you’re not likely to get caught. Sirius, you can drive the motorcycle, and if you get into trouble and need a quick escape, Dora, you can side-along with Harry while Sirius apparates himself.”

“And I can stay home with Teddy and Hope, so that Andromeda and Ted aren’t missed at work and Professor McGonagall and Hagrid aren’t missed at Hogwarts,” Remus finished.

“Okay,” Sirius said. “What do we do about the Dursleys?”

“That’s going to be the hard part,” Remus said. “You’re going to have to leave them be. You can’t take out revenge on them, no matter how much you want to.”

“I’ll keep Sirius in line,” Tonks said.

“That applies to you, too,” Remus said.

Tonks sighed. “I’m an auror, I’ve done this before,” they said.

Minerva shook her head before Remus could reply. “You’re going to want to kill them even more than you do now when you see Harry. Trust me. For Harry’s sake, you have to resist that urge. Both of you.”

Remus nodded. “It’s never been this personal, not even when we were breaking Sirius out of Azkaban. Don’t do anything stupid.”

* * *

“Wow, these muggles don’t get out much,” Tonks commented as the motorcycle landed in front of Number 4’s drive. It wasn’t even midnight, but the street was empty, and all the houses’ lights were off.

“Good,” Sirius said. “Makes it easier for us.” He removed the disillusion charm from the motorcycle and stashed it behind the Dursleys’ hedges. “Are we ready?”

“Yes,” Tonks said. “Coast is clear, shift.”

Sirius removed his own disillusion charm and shifted to Padfoot, while Tonks took the form of a stereotypical muggle housewife and undid theirs. To onlookers, if any were even awake at this point, they’d look like a normal muggle woman taking the dog for a walk, not at all out of place in this neighborhood.

Tonks double checked the street one more time before unlocking the door with a hairpin and forcing their way in. When the door was safely closed behind them, Tonks and Sirius both reverted to their normal human appearances and lit their wands.

“Way too clean, these muggles,” Tonks whispered. “It’s practically sterile. Are they running a secret hospital or something?”

Sirius shrugged. “Come on,” he said. He saw the tiny cupboard Minerva said Harry would be in, and made for it. Tonks followed him, only to trip and knock over the coat rack.

There was an audible crash, and the lights went on upstairs.

“Dammit,” Tonks hissed as two sets of footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs.

“Who’s there?” Vernon demanded. “I’m warning you – I’m armed!”

Sirius and Tonks exchanged a look and nodded. Drawing their wands, they went out to meet Vernon, who turned out to be “armed” with an ordinary wooden baseball bat, and Petunia, who was cowering behind him.

“We’re Harry’s godparents, and rightful guardians,” Sirius informed them. “We’re taking him home with us, and you can’t stop us.”

Vernon’s face went purple, but he nodded. “Fine,” he said. “Take the boy and get out. None of you ever come back here.”

“No, Vernon,” Petunia said. “The boy must stay here. The – the neighbors will talk if he leaves.”

“We can come up with a believable story for the neighbors,” Vernon told his wife. “Or better yet, we can move. Leave this place behind forever and start over. Just us and Dudley, no freakishness involved.”

“Vernon, we can’t,” Petunia said. She whirled on Tonks and Sirius. “Get out of our house before I call the police.”

Tonks let out a hollow laugh. “I’m an auror – I _am _the police in our world,” they said. “Trust me, your muggle police officers won’t be able to touch me.”

“And I’m a convicted mass murderer,” Sirius informed the Dursleys cheerfully. “If they couldn’t catch me for that…”

Vernon clutched the baseball bat even tighter, and Petunia shrank even further behind her husband. It was a sight Sirius and Tonks both enjoyed a little too much.

“In fact, if I didn’t want to keep this out of the papers, I could have you both arrested and given a life sentence in Azkaban for child abuse right now,” Tonks said. “Be grateful that we’re trying to keep this whole thing discrete. Go back to bed and let us take Harry, before we decide not to be so lenient.”

“We don’t answer to _your _laws!” Vernon roared. He brandished his bat and stalked toward Tonks, but Tonks was faster.

“Stupefy,” they said, pointing their wand directly at Vernon’s chest. Not wanting to be left out, Sirius did the same to Petunia.

“What should we do with them?” he asked.

“I’ll wipe their memories before we go,” Tonks said. “The devil with not using magic, we’ve already bungled that up. Let’s get Harry and get the hell out of here.”

Sirius nodded and finally opened the cupboard under the stairs. The commotion outside must’ve woken Harry, because he was sitting upright and staring, wide-eyed, at Sirius and Tonks.

It was even worse than Minerva described. Harry was not only rail thin, he had a huge, swollen bruise on his ankle and his arm was twisted at a weird angle. The cupboard smelled like a septic tank, and Harry didn’t smell much better.

“He looks like he hasn’t had a bath in a month,” Tonks said softly. “Or eaten, for that matter.”

“Let’s just get him out of here,” Sirius said. “Hi, Harry, you probably don’t remember us, but-”

“Padfoot? Tonks?” Harry asked timidly.

Sirius’ heart melted. “Yes, Harry, it’s us,” he said. “Do you want to come with us?”

Harry nodded solemnly, as if he could hardly believe this was really happening.

“Okay,” Sirius said. “We’ve got to change your nappy first, alright?”

Harry nodded again, and Sirius almost vomited when he removed Harry’s dirty nappy. Harry’s entire lower half was bright red and caked in days of waste – Sirius wouldn’t have been surprised if his last nappy change was more than a week ago.

“I don’t know how these neat freaks can live with that, even if they don’t care enough about him to change him,” Tonks commented.

“It doesn’t matter,” Sirius said. He threw the dirty nappy on the ground. “They’re never going to live with him again.”

Sirius finished wiping Harry the best he could and dressed him in a clean nappy and a pair of Teddy’s pajamas. They were far too large, but still a better fit than the rags the Dursleys had him wearing. Harry cried out when Sirius tried to manipulate his arm into the pajamas, but it was done quickly.

“Can you fix his arm?” Sirius asked Tonks when he finished. Every auror had magical first aid as part of their basic training, which included mending small bones.

“Probably, but I’d rather have Mum look at it when she gets home from work, in case there’s underlying injures. I’ll just brace it for now, I don’t want to risk him jolting in on the way home.” They did just that, and Sirius picked Harry up and carried him out of the cupboard. As they passed the unconscious forms of the Dursleys, Harry whimpered and hid his face in Sirius’ shirt.

“It’s okay, Harry, they won’t wake up,” Sirius said gently.

“They’re never going to touch you again, Harry,” Tonks promised. “In fact, just to be sure – obliviate!” Tonks pointed their wand at each of the Dursleys in turn, removing all their memories of not only tonight, but of Harry entirely. Then, Tonks levitated them both into the cupboard and locked it with the strongest locking spell they knew – which, as an auror, they knew plenty. 

“See how they like it,” they said savagely.

Sirius nodded approvingly. “Alright, let’s get the hell out of here,” he said.

Tonks nodded in agreement, and was about to take Harry so Sirius could shift back to Padfoot, when they heard a loud cry upstairs and toddler footsteps approaching the stairs.

“Merlin’s right tit, don’t tell me we’re going to have to obliviate the kid, too?” Sirius sighed. Memory charms on developing minds were very dangerous and could lead to lifelong psychological damage, even if done properly.

“We can’t do that,” Tonks said. “He may be spoiled rotten, but he’s only Harry’s age. We’d be no better than _them_ if we did that.” They inclined their head to the cupboard.

“Then let’s get out of here before he sees us,” Sirius said, but it was too late; disturbed by the commotion, Dudley Dursley went downstairs to see what was going on, and saw a strange pair of adults with his cousin, his parents nowhere in sight.

He did the only rational thing a two year old would do in such a situation, and screamed so loudly all the windows in the house shattered.

“_Please _tell me that was Harry,” Sirius said, but despite the commotion, Harry, feeling secure and safe for the first time in over a year, was already asleep against Sirius’ chest.

“You know it wasn’t,” Tonks said. They got down on their knees to Dudley’s eye level. “Calm down, son. We’re Harry’s godparents, we’re just going to take him home with us. We’re not going to hurt you.”

Dudley looked mistrustful, but he stopped screaming. “Mama and Dada?” he asked.

“They’re, erm, asleep. Go back to bed,” Sirius said.

“Wait,” Tonks said. “If he’s magical-”

“Do _not _say what I think you’re about to say,” Sirius interrupted.

“Don’t interrupt me,” Tonks snapped. “Hear me out. Those people hated Harry, and Lily and James, because they’re magical. We can’t guarantee his parents will take that any better from their own son, can we?”

Sirius groaned. “You have to be joking,” he said. “He pushed Harry onto the stove earlier! He’s _their _son. He’s not our problem.”

“He’s two years old, and he can’t help that his parents are pieces of shit,” Tonks countered. “That doesn’t guarantee he’s going to be the same. _You _should know that better than anyone.”

“Dammit, Tonks, this is supposed to be _quiet_,” Sirius reminded Tonks. “Get in, get Harry, get out. You can’t-”

“And we’ve already mussed that part up,” Tonks said. “Come on, Sirius. You know it’s the right thing to do. A kid growing up in this kind of family will have a terrible life. You know that.” Tonks knew it was unfair to keep harping on Sirius’ biological family, and they’d apologize later, but Sirius had to see that they couldn’t leave a child in an abusive home. Not when they could do something about it.

“And being raised by an escaped convict, a werewolf, and an auror with a double life, with an uncontrolled metamorphmagus, another werewolf, and the bloody boy who lived as siblings is just easy street,” Sirius muttered. He sighed. “Fine. But _you _get to tell Remus.”

“Deal,” Tonks said. They ran upstairs and grabbed a few things they’d need for Dudley – namely, clothes and nappies in his size, a few toys and photographs, and all the official muggle paperwork they could find – while Sirius talked to Dudley and tried to explain what was going on in terms he could understand.

For such a spoiled child, Dudley took disturbingly little convincing to leave his family and go live with a couple strangers, Tonks reflected as Dudley let them pick him up without fuss and carry him out to the motorcycle. Fitting four people and a large knapsack of baby supplies on a single motorcycle was a tight fit, but with liberal use of sticking charms so the children wouldn’t fall off, they managed.

* * *

Remus laid on the couch with his sleeping children, alternating his gaze between the bit of night sky he could see and the clock on the mantelpiece.

_They’re fine, _he told himself firmly. _Harry’s fine, or he will be, __nobody’s going to get caught, __and we’re all going to be fine._

Finally, just as the clock struck midnight, he heard the familiar engine approaching the house. He sat up, careful not to disturb Teddy or Hope, and watched as Sirius and Tonks walked in – _both _carrying a two year old in their arms.

“Who is that?” Remus asked, looking at the chubby blond boy who was clearly not Harry.

“His name’s Dudley,” Tonks said. “He’s Harry’s cousin.”

“Excuse me? You mean you took Petunia’s kid?” He asked, tactfully not commenting on the name “Dudley.” He groaned. “Dammit, what did you do?”

“The right thing,” Tonks said stubbornly.

“Something stupid,” Sirius said.

Remus groaned. _Of course. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately, I will be moving from semiweekly to monthly updates for the time being. It will be a different day every month, a day that's very important to our heroes. Hint: If you want to know when the next update is coming up, watch the night sky.


	5. Homecoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tonks explains the decision to kidnap Dudley. Harry and Dudley settle into their new home. Hagrid gets the recognition he deserves.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a bit late, I've been sick. Enjoy!

Sirius gently nudged Harry awake. “We’re home, Prongslet,” he said softly.

Harry woke with a start and looked around the room, clearly confused.

“It’s okay, Harry, it’s me,” Sirius said.

Harry looked up at Sirius and squinted. “Padfoot?” he asked.

“That’s right, pup,” Sirius said. “Tonks is here, too, and do you remember who this is?” He turned slightly so that Harry could see Remus.

“Moony!” Harry cried out. He reached out to Remus with his good arm, and Remus gently pulled Harry into a hug, careful not to touch Harry’s braced arm.

“Have you got him? I’ll make him something to eat,” Sirius said.

Remus nodded and settled on the couch next to Harry.

“I’ll put Dudley to bed in Teddy’s room,” Tonks whispered, so as not to wake the boy in their arms, who was still snoring. “Harry and Teddy can sleep with us tonight – honestly, Harry probably won’t let us go anywhere without him anyway – but Dudley doesn’t know us yet. Then I’ll explain everything.”

Remus nodded and held Harry as close as he could without hurting him.

“Nobody is ever going to hurt you like that again, cub,” he said. “I promise.”

Harry yawned and pressed his head against Remus’ shoulder.

Sirius came back into the living room with a quarter of a ham and cheese sandwich and a cup of pumpkin juice, as Harry’s stomach wouldn’t be able to handle anything more just yet. He’d need small, frequent meals until his stomach got used to regular food again.

“Here, Harry, this is for you,” Sirius said.

Harry picked up the sandwich and gobbled it up in only a few bites, before chugging the entire cup of juice in a single gulp – like he thought it would get taken away from him if he didn’t eat fast enough. Which, considering all he’d been through, was a perfectly reasonable thing to think.

_Tonks was right to insist on taking Dudley, _ Sirius realized. _We couldn’t leave _ any _ child with those people. Perhaps we should’ve hit them with a sterilizing curse before we left..._

Tonks came back into the living room. Sirius levitated the plate and empty cup to the sink and took Harry from Remus while Tonks began to explain how and why they’d taken Dudley.

“You need a bath, kiddo,” Sirius said.

“No!” Harry shivered and hid his face in Sirius’ shoulder.

“Hey, it’s alright,” Sirius said, gently rocking Harry in his arms. “You used to love baths, remember? What’s wrong?”

“Cold,” Harry whined.

It took Sirius a few seconds to understand this, and he felt a fresh surge of hatred for the Dursleys when he did. _Of course. No doubt they thought warm water was a waste on him, _he thought bitterly. He wanted to go back to the Dursleys’ house right then and there and put a freezing charm on the cupboard where Tonks had stashed them, but he restrained himself. Harry needed reassuring more than Sirius needed more revenge.

“I’ll keep the bath nice and warm for you,” Sirius said, forcing himself to smile. “If it’s too hot or too cold, I’ll change it. I promise.”

Harry nodded, but he looked like he’d believe it when he saw it.

_We already stole their son, _ Sirius thought, trying to keep himself calm. He transfigured the shower into a small bathtub and filled it with warm water. _Dudley is a wizard, is going to be raised by and with other wizards, and is going to love magic. Nothing else I can do will be better revenge. _

* * *

“You’re insane, you know that?” Tonks had just finished telling Remus their story. “You do realize the muggle authorities will be looking for Dudley soon, right? Even if you’d thought to erase the Dursleys’ memories of Dudley before you left, there’s still bound to be records of him existing.”

Tonks scoffed at the idea of muggle policemen being any sort of threat. “We’re already hiding two family members,” they pointed out. “What’s one more?”

“Well, hopefully we’re not going to be hiding Harry and Sirius forever,” Remus said. “Once we find and catch Peter, we can clear Sirius’ name and get official guardianship of Harry – at least, you and Sirius can.” While werewolves retained rights to their biological children, they were prohibited by law from adoption or legal guardianship. Remus’ friends railed at the injustice of this, but Remus was just relived someone like Fenrir Greyback couldn’t adopt a child. “We don’t have any legal rights to Dudley.”

“We’ll figure that out when it comes to it,” Tonks said. “If it comes to it, muggle documents are easy to forge, and they hold up in magical custody law. They’re _not _getting him back. Those people aren’t fit to raise a flobberworm.”

“Well, you’re right about that,” Remus sighed.

“I’m right about most things,” Tonks said smugly.

Remus rolled his eyes and hit them over the head with a couch pillow.

Before Tonks could retaliate and start what was sure to be an hour long a pillow fight, Sirius came back into the room holding a freshly bathed Harry wrapped up in a towel.

“Alright, everyone, bedtime,” Sirius said.

Tonks and Remus picked up Teddy and Hope, and the group went to the small bedroom Remus, Sirius, and Tonks shared. Elvendork the Cat was fast asleep on the bed, splayed out and taking up the whole thing. Remus put Hope down in her cot and picked the cat up, who made a little meow in protest.

“Remember Harry, Elvendork?” Remus asked the cat.

Elvendork the Cat glanced at the little boy who’d taken his spot on the bed, then wiggled out of Remus’ arms, plopped down next to Harry, and started licking his hair.

“Kitty!” Harry said happily. He gently stroked the cat and Elvendork purred. Nobody could be sure if Harry actually recognized Elvendork or just liked cats in general, but Elvendork clearly recognized Harry, and had missed him.

Smiling, Remus summoned a clean nappy and pair of pajamas from Teddy’s room and dressed Harry while Tonks and Sirius changed into their pajamas, and then everyone, including Elvendork, squeezed into the king sized bed. Harry was sandwiched between Teddy and Sirius, with Elvendork on Harry’s chest, while Tonks and Remus settled on the outside. Slowly, together again at last, the marauders drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Andromeda arrived at Wolf Cottage only seconds after her shift ended, still dressed in her green healers’ robes.

_They should think about putting an alarm on the floo or something, _she thought as she easily stepped through the fireplace. The cottage was eerily silent, and Andromeda hoped that meant the mission was a success and everyone was enjoying a good nights’ sleep.

Sure enough, when she went into Tonks’ room, she saw the three adults fast asleep in bed, with Teddy and Harry in between them and Elvendork the Cat on top of Harry. Teddy’s arm was wrapped around Harry, and Andromeda smiled. She watched them for a few moments before gently nudging Tonks awake.

“Looks like the plan went off without a hitch,” Andromeda said.

Tonks yawned. “Well, mostly,” they said.

“Mostly?” Andromeda asked, but her question was answered when a chubby blond boy about Harry’s age walked into the room.

“I hungry,” the little boy said.

Andromeda stared at her child, wordlessly demanding an explanation.

“Mum, this is Dudley,” Tonks said. “I’ll explain everything later, but he’s your newest grandchild.” They picked the boy up and went out to the kitchen.

Andromeda followed, sighing internally. No parent, in her opinion, should ever hear the phrase “I’ll explain later” from their child as many times as she’d had to hear it in just the past week.

Tonks settled Dudley in a chair and gave him some crackers. “Watch him for a minute?” they asked Andromeda. “I need to get the boys out of bed.” Without waiting for an answer, Tonks went back to the bedroom.

_They get their manners from their father, _Andromeda thought, rolling her eyes.

Tonks came back from the bedroom a minute later carrying Harry, with Sirius and Remus right behind them carrying Teddy and Hope.

“Gran!” Teddy shouted, wiggling from Sirius’ grasp and running to embrace Andromeda.

Andromeda smiled and pulled her grandson into a hug. “Hello, Teddy,” she said.

“Can you give Harry a checkup?” Tonks asked. “His arm is definitely broken, but I thought I’d wait for you.”

“Good idea,” Andromeda said. “Come here, Harry.”

Harry shook his head and hid in Tonks’ shirt.

“Harry, it’s okay,” Tonks said gently. “This is my mum, Andromeda. She’s your new grandmother. She’ll never hurt you, I promise.”

Harry hesitantly looked up.

“It’s okay, Harry,” Andromeda said. “I’m going to fix your arm so it doesn’t hurt anymore, okay?”

Harry slowly nodded, and Andromeda was relieved he’d agreed so quickly. She was used to dealing with anxious patients, but she wasn’t a pediatric healer, and an abused child was typically above her pay grade.

Andromeda did a quick scan of Harry’s body to confirm the bone was broken and check for other injuries. A bad sprain on Harry’s ankle, an infection, likely from spending days at a time in a dirty nappy, several improperly healed old sprains, and incredible nearsightedness stood out, but there were no other breaks. Nothing too difficult to fix, thank Merlin.

Andromeda made a careful record of each injury before fixing it – one day, when Pettigrew was caught and Sirius’ name cleared, they might be able to use this evidence in court to send the Dursleys to jail for the rest of their lives. No muggle had ever been put in Azkaban, but abusing the boy who lived may very well make the Dursleys the first.

“You did a good job bracing his arm, Dora,” Andromeda complimented her child.

“Thanks,” Tonks said. “When’s Dad get out of work?”

Before Andromeda could answer, Ted walked through the fireplace.

“Speak of the devil,” Tonks said. “Hi, Dad. Come meet your newest grandchildren.”

“Grand_children_?” Ted asked. His eyes rested on Dudley, who had polished off his crackers and was watching Sirius frying eggs at the stove impatiently.

“I’ll explain everything when Auntie and Hagrid get here,” Tonks said. “Harry, this is my dad, Grandpa Ted.”

Harry waved shyly with his newly healed arm.

“I’ll have an anti-infection potion and eyeglasses for him by the end of the day,” Andromeda said. “Speaking of which, I’ve got your testosterone potion here, Sirius.” She pulled it out of her pocket and placed it on the table.

“Cheers,” Sirius said. He picked it up and downed it in one gulp before turning back to his cooking. “Will you two be staying for breakfast?” he asked.

“No, thanks,” Ted said. “I just want to know how last night went, then I’m going straight home to bed.”

“Sounds like a great idea,” Tonks yawned.

“With three toddlers and newborn? Good luck with that,” Andromeda grinned.

Before Tonks could think of a retort, Hagrid and Minerva stepped out of the fireplace.

“Got away as soon as we could,” Minerva said. “How is he?”

“And who’s that?” Hagrid asked, noticing Dudley.

“That’s Petunia’s son,” Minerva said. “Why is he here, Tonks?”

“You know, you two will want to be careful sneaking off together so much, people will think you’re having an affair or something,” Tonks said.

Hagrid blushed and Minerva glared at her godchild. “Don’t avoid the question,” she snapped in a tone even Tonks couldn’t ignore. “What happened last night, and why is Petunia’s son here?”

“That’s technically two questions,” Tonks said, but one more glare from their godmother and Tonks gave up. “He’s magical, Auntie. Who knows what those muggles would’ve done once they worked that out? We couldn’t just leave him.”

“_You _couldn’t just leave him,” Sirius corrected.

“You agreed,” Tonks retorted.

“I didn’t say you were wrong, just that it was your idea.”

Tonks rolled their eyes. “Whatever. The point is, Dudley is ours now, just like Harry, Teddy, and Hope, and if those muggles want him back they’ll have to pry him from my cold, dead fingers.”

“Mine, too,” Sirius said, and Remus nodded in agreement. All three surprised themselves with how much they already really meant it. Somehow, in only a few hours, Dudley had truly become one of them.

“Well, you were right,” Minerva admitted. “I honestly didn’t even think of him when I saw Harry, but Dudley was never going to become a functioning member of any society under his parents’ care, magical or not. Those people aren’t fit to raise a flobberworm.”

Tonks shot Sirius and Remus a “told you so” smirk. 

“Would you like to stay for breakfast, Hagrid, Professor?” Sirius asked, ignoring Tonks. 

“Sirius, if Severus Snape can call me Minerva, you and Remus have certainly earned the right,” Minerva said. “And no, thank you, Hagrid and I better get back before we’re missed.”

“About that,” Tonks said. “You two seriously do need a good cover story for coming over here so often. The boys and I were talking, and we were wondering if you two would like to be Hope’s godparents.”

Hagrid teared up and blew his nose noisily into his handkerchief, and Minerva gave Tonks one of her rare smiles.

“I’d be honored,” Minerva said.

Hagrid was sobbing tears of joy and couldn’t speak, but he nodded and pulled Remus, Sirius, and Tonks into a bone crushing hug.


	6. Preparation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Marauders prepare the house for the children they just adopted and fix a massive oversight in the Cottage's security. Better late than never?

“We need to go shopping,” Remus said after Ted, Andromeda, Minerva, and Hagrid left. “We didn’t even have time to prepare for one more child, let alone two.”

He summoned a piece of parchment and a quill from the living room to make a list. Neither Teddy nor Harry looked up from their eggs, but Dudley thought it was the most amazing thing he’d ever seen.

“Again! Again!” he demanded.

With a grin, Remus made the parchment fly around Dudley’s head. _Vernon and Petunia Dursley would have a stroke if __they could see this, _he thought happily.

After about five minutes, Dudley got bored with the flying parchment, and Sirius let all three boys down from the table to go play in Teddy’s room while Tonks cleared the table and Remus started the shopping list.

“Harry and Dudley both need clothes in their sizes,” Sirius said. “We should probably get a few sizes up for Harry, too.”

Remus nodded and wrote it down. “They’ll also need beds,” he said. “I really don’t want them in ours forever.”

“Why?” Sirius asked innocently. “Were you planning something they shouldn’t be there for?”

Remus rolled his eyes. “Shut up and get your head out of the gutter,” he said. “What else?”

“We should get a car,” Tonks said. “We need to be able to make a quick escape in an emergency – if they catch onto us, the first thing they’ll do is shut down our fireplace. Even if I taught you and Sirius to side-along apparate, we could each only take one kid at a time. We’d have to leave a kid and Elvendork the Cat behind – and that’s assuming none of us are incapacitated.”

“We have my motorbike,” Sirius said. “And brooms.”

“I can’t drive your motorbike, and if one or two of us were incapacitated, getting everyone on just one or two brooms would be very hard, if not impossible,” said Tonks.

“I see why you’re Moody’s favorite student,” Sirius said dryly. “What if we got a sidecar for the motorbike?”

“It’d have to be one big sidecar. Sirius, we’re a family of seven. Be glad if we don’t end up with a station wagon or minivan,” Tonks said, and Sirius shuddered at the very thought. “Besides, an ordinary looking car would make it easy to blend in with muggles, if we have to.”

“The color changing toddler and the two werewolves would beg to differ,” said Sirius, but he sighed and gave in. “Alright, we’ll get a car but we’re getting something _cool_.”

“This is all great, in theory,” Remus said. “But can either of you actually drive a car?”

“Dad gave me a few lessons before seventh year,” Tonks said. “I never got a license, but muggle documents are easy enough to fake.”

“It can’t be that much different from the motorbike, can it?” Sirius asked.

Groaning to himself, Remus added _EXTRA SAFETY CHARMS_ and right next to _Padfoot approved car_ _that can hold at least 7 people _on the list and underlined it three times. “Anything else we need?” he asked.

“Toys,” Sirius said. “Harry didn’t get any with those people, and I don’t know how long Teddy is going to be willing to share, especially because he’s sharing everything else.”

“Dudley should have a few of his own, too,” Tonks said. “I took a few small ones from the Dursleys’, but he should get some from us, too.”

“You’re right, but Christmas is coming, so let’s not get too overboard,” Remus said.

“It’s the start of November, Remus, Christmas is _ages _away,” Tonks said. “Besides, Harry deserves to be spoiled a bit.”

Remus couldn’t bring himself to disagree with that. “I know, I just don’t want to run out of things to buy them.”

“I don’t think we have to worry about that,” Sirius said. “I already know what I want to get the boys.”

“B-r-o-o-m-s?” Tonks guessed, spelling the word out in case the kids could hear them from Teddy’s room. Sirius had gotten Harry a toy broom for his first birthday, but it had been destroyed like everything else when Voldemort attacked the Potter’s cottage.

Sirius nodded. “Harry needs a new one, and Dudley and Teddy are overdue for their first.”

“_You _get to teach Teddy to fly,” Remus said firmly. Teddy had inherited Tonks’ clumsiness.

“It’s only a few inches off the ground, it can’t do much damage,” Sirius said.

“I’ll ask Andromeda about that next time she’s over,” Remus said.

“Don’t you dare,” said Tonks. “Is that everything? I should get going if I’m going to get all this in one day.”

Neither Remus nor Sirius had anything else to add, so Remus handed Tonks the list. After carefully disguising themselves as an old man, Tonks vanished with a soft crack.

A moment after Tonks left, two loud cries chorused from Teddy’s room. Sirius and Remus exchanged an exasperated look and ran to see what the trouble was.

Teddy was on the ground on his back while Dudley leered over him holding a toy car and Harry hid in the corner.

“Mine!” Teddy cried, getting up to lunge for the toy again.

Sirius caught Teddy mid-leap and pulled him away. After a moment of hesitation, Harry ran across the room and wrapped his arms around Sirius’ leg.

“Alright, that’s enough,” Remus said firmly. “Dudley, did you take that from Teddy?”

Dudley nodded. “I want it,” he said simply.

Remus sighed. “Dudley, you can’t take things that don’t belong to you,” he said as patiently as he could. “We have to share and take turns.”

“Don’t wanna,” Dudley said. “My toy now.”

“No, Dudley, it’s Teddy’s toy. He’s being nice enough to share his toys with you because you don’t have any. But if you’re not nice to him, he’s not going to want to share with you, and you won’t get to play with them at all,” Remus explained.

“Where my toys?” Dudley asked, not at all impressed with this argument.

“We couldn’t take them with us when we brought you here,” Remus said. “But Tonks is out buying you and Harry some new toys.”

“New toys?” asked Dudley, his eyes wide with excitement.

“That’s right. But I need you to tell Teddy you’re sorry for pushing him, and to be nice and share with him and Harry, or else you won’t be able to play with the new toys, because you’ll be in time out,” said Remus.

“Sorry, Teddy,” Dudley mumbled.

“Good. Now hug and make up,” said Remus.

Sirius released Teddy and the two boys hugged. They looked more like they were trying to crush each other than genuinely make up, but a moment later, they each found a different toy to play with, the car they’d been fighting over lying forgotten on the floor.

“Alright, Harry?” Sirius asked his godson.

“Don’t like yelling,” he said softly.

“It looks like they’re done yelling now,” Sirius said. “Do you want to play now?”

Harry hesitated for a moment and then nodded. He picked up the toy car Dudley and Teddy had been fighting over and started to play with it. If the other boys noticed, they didn’t care.

“Kids,” Sirius muttered.

“Yeah, thanks for the backup there,” Remus said dryly.

“I would’ve jumped in if you needed me, but you were handling that perfectly well,” Sirius said. “Probably better than I would’ve done, anyway. I think you missed your calling, Moony. You could’ve been a teacher, you’re so good with kids.”

“If only I wasn’t a dangerous beast who no sane parent would let their kids be around,” Remus said.

“Are you saying Tonks and I aren’t sane?” Sirius teased.

Remus rolled his eyes. “Don’t make me answer that,” he said. “You know I could never be a teacher.”

“Only because our society is prejudiced and stupid,” Sirius said. “And one day when we catch that rat and my name is cleared, we’re going to work to fix it. And no more of that kind of talk! What if Hope hears it and starts thinking about herself that way?”

“Hope is a week old,” Remus said.

Sirius elbowed him. “You know what I mean,” he said. “She’s going to be able to understand us before we know it, and we don’t want her internalizing that. And it’s not good for the other kids, either.”

“If you say so,” Remus said.

* * *

Mercifully, there were no more outbursts for the rest of the morning, and Tonks returned right in the middle of lunch staggering under the weight of several packages.

“I got us a car,” they said. “I think you’ll like it, Sirius, and there’s plenty of room for everyone.”

Needing no further invitation, Sirius shifted to dog form and dashed outside, Tonks and Remus bemusedly following with the kids in tow.

An offensively bright tie-dye colored van was parked haphazardly in front of the cottage, giving the distinct impression that a rainbow had gotten drunk and vomited all over it. It had clearly been used before and had quite possibly survived several accidents, judging by the large dents in the front, back, and each side – unless that was just due to Tonks’ driving. Sirius loved it immediately.

“An old muggle sold it to me dirt cheap,” Tonks said. “He didn’t even ask for ID. I’m not sure that’s even legal, but I’m off duty.”

“Is it safe?” Remus asked. “Does it even run?”

“It got me back here well enough,” Tonks said. “I thought Sirius would like to fix it up a little. We’d need to keep him under a glamour or polyjuice potion, just in case, but that shouldn’t be too hard.”

Sirius couldn’t speak in dog form, but his excited barks told the others he would like that very much.

Tonks grinned and opened up the car, revealing several more packages of various sizes. “Nobody go back in empty handed,” they said. “Not even you, Snuffles.”

Dudley made a beeline for one of the bigger boxes. “New toys?” he asked.

“Lots of new things for you and Harry,” Tonks said. “The sooner we carry it all in, the sooner we can look at it.”

Dudley needed no more prompting and picked up the largest box he could carry. Harry, Teddy, and Sirius each took another small package, leaving Remus and Tonks to levitate the larger packages inside.

* * *

With magic and everyone pitching in, the remodel of Teddy’s room into the boys’ room only took the Marauders until dinnertime. The adults probably could’ve finished even faster by themselves, but Harry, Dudley, and Teddy had all wanted to help, and none of them had the heart to turn them down, even though it made things more difficult.

Teddy’s bed was moved to the side of the room, with Harry and Dudley’s beds right next to it. Tonks expanded Teddy’s dresser and added four more drawers – two for each Harry and Dudley. They added another toy box and some extra shelves and when finished, the room was a bit cramped, but comfortable.

“We’ll have to get them bunk beds when they’re old enough,” Sirius commented as he magically fitted sheets on the new beds. “It’s going to be a tight fit when they’re not babies anymore.”

“It’s going to be a tight fit come Christmas when we spoil them even more,” Tonks said cheerfully. “But isn’t that part of the fun of parenting?”

“Maybe we should’ve used the extra room for Harry and Dudley after all,” Remus said.

“You should’ve said that _before_ we got this one set up,” said Tonks. “But no, we’d just have to move them in with Teddy anyway when Hope’s ready to move out of our room. It’s easier to move them all in together now.”

“I suppose you’re right,” said Remus. “Though it does seem a little unfair for Hope to be the only one who gets her own room.”

“With two dads, three brothers, and a nonbinary mother, she’ll be the only girl in the house,” Tonks said. “It only seems fair she has her own space to be a girl in.”

“Okay – but what does that even entail?” Remus asked.

“Hell if I know,” said Tonks, shrugging.

“Maybe when my dear mother finally dies, we can afford a bigger place, and it’ll all be moot anyway,” Sirius said. “Hopefully it’ll happen by Christmas, so we have lots of money to spend on gifts.”

“If I didn’t know you, I’d think you were heartless,” Remus teased.

“But you do know him, so you _know _he’s heartless,” Tonks grinned. “But not as heartless as Walburga, so I guess it can be excused.”

“I’m glad you approve,” Sirius deadpanned. “I didn’t know you’d even met Walburga.”

“I haven’t, and hopefully never will. The way she treated you was more than enough to make me hate her,” said Tonks.

“What, are you saying you like me?” Sirius asked, batting his eyelashes at Tonks.

“Against my better judgment,” said Tonks. “Now shut up and go make dinner.”

* * *

Andromeda returned just as the marauders finished dinner and Remus started to clear the table.

“I have Harry’s potion and glasses,” she announced as she apparated in.

“Oh, perfect timing, I was just about to give the boys a bath,” said Tonks.

“He should take that potion an hour before each meal,” Andromeda instructed, handing said potion to Tonks. “I was hoping to catch you before dinner, but I overslept.”

“Must’ve been nice,” Sirius yawned from the couch, where he was feeding Hope her bedtime bottle.

Andromeda ignored this. “I’ve put some reinforcement charms on his glasses so they don’t break too easily,” she said. “Let’s see how they fit, Harry.”

Harry had none of his earlier hesitation as Andromeda fit the glasses on his face and waved her wand to do a few diagnostic charms, making sure the prescription was perfect.

“Thanks, Mum,” Tonks said. “Come on, boys, bath time.”

“Yay! Bath!” said Teddy happily. Dudley and Harry were more reserved, but thankfully, Harry showed none of his previous fear about the bathtub.

“Harry’s adjusting very quickly,” Andromeda said.

“I know,” said Remus. “We must’ve got him just in time. Would you like some dinner? The leftovers should still be warm.”

“Was Sirius cooking?” Andromeda asked. Tonks’ terrible cooking skills were legend, and Remus wasn’t much better, but Sirius, luckily, had some talent in the kitchen, or else they all would’ve had to live on takeaway.

“Of course. Do you think I’d let those two near a stove?” Sirius retorted. “It’s a wonder they didn’t starve to death without me.”

Andromeda laughed. “Just checking,” she said. “Yes, I’d love some. I was going to order takeaway since Ted’s working again, but I can’t turn down a home cooked meal I don’t have to cook myself.”

Sirius beamed as Andromeda made herself a plate.

“Anyway, I was thinking, you should probably have some anti-apparation wards on the cottage,” Andromeda said between mouthfuls. “And perhaps disconnect from the floo network. As convenient as it is for me to be able to pop over whenever I want, unfortunately there’s nothing stopping the ministry or death eaters from doing the same.

Sirius let out an impressive string of curse words that Remus dearly hoped the children couldn’t hear from the bathroom.

“Indeed,” said Andromeda, nonplussed.

“I didn’t even think of that,” Sirius scowled. “How could I not think of that?”

“It’s not all on you,” Remus reminded him gently. “Tonks and I didn’t think of it, either.”

“I’m so stupid,” Sirius ranted. “This whole time, I could’ve put you all in danger, and now that we got Harry-”

“Hey,” Remus cut off Sirius’ tirade. “Remember what you told me earlier today? No more of that kind of talk. We all made a mistake, but we’ve had a lot on our minds lately and more importantly, we can fix it before anyone gets hurt.”

“It’s not the same thing,” Sirius protested. “You could all be hurt and it would be my fault-”

“The same thing could happen if Hope or I escaped during the full moon,” Remus said. “And if I’m not allowed to beat myself up over that, you can’t beat yourself up over this. We’ll set up the wards and put an alarm on the floo tonight. It’s going to be okay.”

Sirius sighed. “I hate when you’re right.”

“Really? I thought you would be used to it by now,” Remus teased.

Sirius rolled his eyes. “Prat.”


	7. Caught

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dumbledore finally figures out something is amiss and we get in his head a little bit. Tonks, Sirius, and Remus scramble to cover their tracks. Arabella Figg is done with wizards and their nonsense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry I missed the last two updates! The holidays and real life got in the way, damn them. On the plus side, now that I've missed a promised update, I can call myself a real fanfic writer. Enjoy!

**10 November, 1982**

The next few days passed peacefully in the Black-Lupin house, or rather as peacefully as things could get with a newborn and three toddlers. The same, however, could not be said for Privet Drive.

“I heard her husband just stopped showing up for work,” Mrs. Polkiss whispered to her neighbor that morning over her garden wall.

“I always knew there was something off about that family,” agreed Mrs. Nelson of Number Six. “She’s always craning her neck over our garden wall, looking for gossip. Spying, like.”  


Mrs. Polkiss nodded. “She’s always trying to get a look in our house when she brings her son ‘round to play with Piers,” she said. “As if _we’d _have anything to hide. Horrible child, he is, but at least she’s the good sense to leave the _other_ one at home.”

“Her ‘nephew,’” Mrs. Nelson scoffed. “As if that’s not the oldest trick in the book. The boy looks nothing like her, and we’re supposed to believe she just _forgot _to mention she had a sister this whole time? I’ll bet money her husband had an affair with some underling at work, and that boy is the proof. His mother probably threatened to go public if they didn’t take the brat.” 

“ That’s probably why he stopped going to work,” Mrs. Polkiss said, giggling. “ Unless  _she _ had the affair...”

* * *

Arabella Figg watched her neighbors gossip from her living room window, scowling. She hated living here, with all the insufferable men, gossipy women, and entitled children, but she’d promised Dumbledore she’d stay here and complete her mission to watch over the Potter boy.

With each passing day, however, it became more and more clear that this mission could not be salvaged. Though she couldn’t hear exactly what the women were saying, she knew what today’s gossip topic of choice was – the same as it had been for the past three days, when Vernon Dursley hadn’t shown up to work, and the fact that none of the residents of Number Four had been seen since. It was only thanks to the neighbors’ love of gossip that they police hadn’t yet been called, but even that wouldn’t hold them off indefinitely. Eventually, there would be an investigation from the muggle authorities, and Arabella did not want to be here when it did.

Arabella was relieved to hear a sharp knock on her back door. With a last dark glare at the neighbors, she crossed the room to open the door and let Dumbledore in.

“Good day, Arabella,” Dumbledore said. “I take it nothing has changed since I wrote you last night?”

“No,” Arabella said. “No sign of Harry, or of the muggles.”

“Let’s hope they just went on holiday,” Dumbledore said.

Arabella scoffed. She knew Dumbledore didn’t believe that any more than she did. “Let’s go, then,” she said.

Mrs. Polkiss and Mrs. Nelson stared and whispered at Arabella and Dumbledore as they walked down the street and knocked on the door of Number 4. The flamboyant velvet suit Dumbledore was wearing did little to help matters, Arabella was sure, and a small, selfish part of her hoped the Dursleys had run off somewhere so she wouldn’t have to live in this neighborhood anymore.

After a few uncomfortable minutes with no answer, Dumbledore sighed, subtly took out his wand, and unlocked the door.

“Stay close to me,” Dumbledore said grimly. He held his wand out in front of him and Arabella followed close behind, shutting the door as she went into the house.

Dumbledore did a few complicated motions with his wand and sighed. “It’s as I feared,” he said. “Someone’s worked magic here – an adult, not just an accidental burst from Harry.”

Arabella’s eyes went wide. “What did they do?”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” He muttered under his breath and ran his wand over the walls and floor, as if it were a metal detector. Finally, he stood up.

“I’m detecting stunning spells and memory charms,” he said gravely. “There was a struggle here. But here’s what I don’t understand – when I strengthened the blood wards on the house, I made sure they would notify me if Harry left the house without a blood relative or if any member of the household was taken against their will. Indeed, I’ve had several false alarms over toddler tantrums.”

“So they must have left willingly,” Arabella said. “But why?”

“And why the need for stunning spells and memory charms?” Dumbledore wondered aloud. He shook his head. “Nothing adds up. Perhaps I made a mistake with the wards.”

Arabella scoffed. “I may not know much about magic, but I _know _you wouldn’t have made a mistake about something as important as this,” she said.

“Your faith in me is flattering, but it’s the most reasonable explanation,” Dumbledore said. However, he kept walking down the hall, tapping the walls with his wand every few steps, trying to pick something up.

He stopped outside a cupboard door with a jolt. “A locking charm,” he whispered.

Arabella’s heart sank. Would Dumbledore’s wards have gone off if the family had been killed or kept prisoner in their own home?

It took Dumbledore a few tries to unlock the door, but he managed to pry it open, revealing Vernon and Petunia Dursley frozen among a terrible stench of dirty diapers.

“Dear lord,” Arabella said, holding her nose. “Who would've done this? And where’s Harry?”

Dumbledore shook his head and levitated the two Dursleys out of the cupboard and onto the couch in the living room. With a flick of his wand, they snapped awake.

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, what happened here?” Dumbledore asked them. “Where’s Harry?”

“Who the bloody hell is Harry?” Vernon demanded. “Who the bloody hell are _you_?”

“I’m Albus Dumbledore,” Dumbledore said. “We’ve never met in person, but I sent you a letter about your nephew Harry, when I left him here.”

“I haven’t got a nephew,” Vernon snapped. “Where’s my son? What have you done to us?”

“We’re trying to figure that out,” Dumbledore said calmly. “Mrs. Dursley, what do you remember?”

Petunia pursed her lips and glared at Dumbledore. “You’re one of _them, _aren’t you? Lily’s lot. I’ve told her once, I’ve told her a dozen times, she and her unnatural husband aren’t welcome here. You would do well to leave now and remind her of that.”

Dumbledore exchanged a concerned glance with Arabella. Clearly, the Dursleys had no recollection of their nephew, or even that Lily and James were dead.

“One more thing, and then my friend and I will take our leave and never darken your doorstep again,” Dumbledore promised. “Stay still, this won’t hurt.”

Before either she or Vernon could protest, Dumbledore looked directly into Petunia’s eyes and concentrated as hard as he could on her mental defenses. As one could predict, they were not particularly strong, and it only took a few minutes to access her subconscious and missing memories.

“Freak boy!” Petunia shrieked, shoving a tiny, black haired toddler into the very same cupboard Dumbledore had rescued her from. “You’ll get no meals until this freakishness stops!”

Disturbed and disgusted, Dumbledore pushed a little farther.

Two people, very familiar to Dumbledore but near complete strangers to Petunia, stood in front of Vernon while Petunia cowered behind her husband. Both brandishing wands, and Dumbledore was not at all surprised to see that one of them was Tonks; he knew Tonks felt they were Harry’s proper guardian, if the state of his office after their last communication was anything to go by. The second was quite a shock – Sirius Black, looking far healthier and better fed than Dumbledore would've expected after several months in Azkaban and then on the run.

Well, this had just become a lot more interesting.

“No, Vernon,” Petunia said. “The boy must stay here.”

_So she _tried_ to hold up her end of the bargain, but what happened? _

“Get out of our house before I call the police,” Petunia said.

Tonks laughed, and in a most uncharacteristic move, bragged that the muggle police wouldn’t be able to stop them, while Sirius proudly declared himself a mass murderer.

“We don’t answer to _your _laws!” Vernon roared. He lunged at the intruders, but Tonks stunned him easily, and seconds later, Sirius did the same to Petunia, and all went dark.

Dumbledore withdrew from Petunia’s mind, seeing all he needed to see. “Thank you for your time,” he said, and he and Arabella took their leave, walking in silence until they were safely back at Arabella’s place.

“I should’ve known,” Dumbledore said.

“What happened?” Arabella asked.

“It appears that Harry was kidnapped,” said Dumbledore.

“By whom?”

“By the two people I would’ve most suspected, but certainly not working together. Tonks, his godmother, and Sirius Black.”

“You mean the death eater Sirius Black? The very reason Harry’s parents were killed?” Arabella collapsed on the couch.

“The very same,” Dumbledore said, trying to piece it all together in his mind. Why was Tonks working with a killer like Black, and why had they put Harry in danger? Perhaps their love for Sirius blinded them to the truth of what he really was – _as if you don’t know anything __about__ that, _a voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Aberforth sneered at him – or, even more unlikely, had _Dumbledore _and the rest of the world been wrong about Sirius? And was Remus also involved in all this, or was he just as much in the dark?

As to how Tonks had learned about Harry’s location, Dumbledore had no doubt. Minerva must’ve told her godchild even after promising not to, but why now? There was no use speculating.

“I’m going to speak to Tonks,” Dumbledore said. “Try to keep a lid on things while I’m gone. I’ll be back as soon as I figure out what to do about this.”

“Best of luck,” Arabella said. Dumbledore disappeared with a barely audible crack, and Arabella got up to fetch herself a large brandy. _As soon as this is all over, I’m moving to a retirement community and never opening my post again, _she vowed to herself. _I don’t care if the next mission comes from Merlin himself, I am _done.

* * *

“Hand me the wrench, please,” Sirius said. It was an unseasonably warm day for November, and Sirius was taking full advantage of the nice weather to fix up the new car.

“Wrench!” Dudley said, handing it to Sirius.

“Thanks, kiddo,” Sirius said. Harry and Teddy had gotten bored ages ago and gone inside to pester Remus and Tonks, but Dudley was fascinated with the car and everything Sirius was doing to fix it up. Sirius was more than happy to have a protege and extra pair of hands, even if they were still too small to do anything but hand him tools.

Sirius looked up for a second and swore. “Shit,” he muttered. “Shit, shit, shit. Dudley, we need to go back inside now.” Without waiting for an answer, he dropped the wrench, scooped up Dudley, and ran inside.

“Dumbledore’s here,” he told Remus, who was feeding Hope on the couch. “Where are Tonks and the boys?”

“In the boys’ room,” Remus said. “Did he see you?”

“I don’t think so,” Sirius said. “But he’ll be on us in under an hour. Our Anti-Apparition wards only stretch a few miles.”

“I knew we should’ve done the Fidelius Charm,” Remus said grimly. The triad had seriously considered putting the cottage under Fidelius with either Minerva or one of Tonks’ parents as secret keeper, but the trauma of what had happened to Lily and James won out, and they decided against it. “Take Dudley to the boys’ room, warn Tonks, and hide. I’ll send word to Minerva and Hagrid and stall Dumbledore if he gets here first.”

Sirius looked like he wanted to protest, but nodded and ran to the bedroom, Dudley still in his arms.

“Expecto Patronum nuntius,” Remus said. _Dumbledore is at the cottage. We need backup, _he thought, concentrating hard on the message. Two silver wolves materialized out of Remus’ wands and took off as fast as they appeared.

The Anti-Apparition wards, luckily, seemed to hold – even if he ran, Dumbledore would still take awhile to reach the cottage.

A few minutes after Remus’ message, the alarm sounded on the floo, and Remus quickly silenced it as Hagrid and then Minerva stepped out.

“What’s going on?” Minerva asked.

“No idea,” Tonks said, coming out of the boys’ room with Teddy on their hip. They had, wisely, left Sirius, Harry, and Dudley inside. “You didn’t tell him?”

“Of course not!” Minerva said, sounding a bit insulted.

“It doesn’t take a genius to figure out where we are,” Remus pointed out. “He knows where we live, and we’re the most likely people to have kidnapped Harry.”

“Oh, _now _he pays attention to what happens to Harry!” Tonks snapped. “Where was he when Harry was being locked in a cupboard and having his arm broken?”

Minerva and Hagrid avoided eye contact with Tonks, both still feeling guilty about their part in Harry’s life with the Dursleys.

“You can ask him those questions when he gets here,” Remus said. “But what do we tell him?”

“Nothing,” Tonks said. “He doesn’t deserve our trust.”

Hagrid bristled at this, having always been one to defend Dumbledore, but said nothing.

“We hate Sirius and have no idea where he is, we had no idea Harry was missing, and when he tells us, it’s our first time hearing of it and we’re worried sick,” Tonks continued.

“He’s never going to fall for that,” said Minerva.

“He will if he knows what’s good for him,” Tonks said bitterly.

Minerva gave Tonks an exasperated look, but was cut off by a knock on the door. Dumbledore was here.

“Remember our story,” Tonks hissed before opening the door. “Professor Dumbledore, what do we owe the pleasure?”

“I have a few questions about Harry Potter and Sirius Black,” Dumbledore said. “May I come in?”

“It’s a bit crowded at the moment, but come on in,” Tonks said.

“Minerva, Hagrid, I didn’t expect to see you here,” Dumbledore said, nodding to each in turn. “I thought you had classes today, Minerva.”

“I gave the first year Gryffindors the day off,” Minerva said. “They’re already far ahead of the other classes, especially young Mister Weasley.”

“High praise coming from you,” Dumbledore said warmly. “I’ll watch his progress with interest, then.”

“What’s this about Harry, Professor?” Tonks asked, trying their best to look alarmed and concerned. “Is he alright?”

Dumbledore sighed. “I was hoping you could tell me, Tonks,” he said.

“I haven’t seen Harry since before James and Lily went into hiding,” Tonks said. “Neither Remus or I have.”

“So your howler last year said,” Dumbledore said. “But I was just with the Dursleys, and the most curious thing happened – not only is Harry not there, they don’t have any recollection of him at all.”

Tonks and Remus both gripped their wands tight.

_ Shit, _Tonks thought. _I hope I can hold him off long enough for Sirius __and Remus __to take the __kids__ and run. I _knew _we should’ve used the Fidelius. _

Still, Tonks was committed to the act. “Are you saying you don’t know where Harry is?” they demanded, trying to sound angry. It wasn’t difficult when they remembered that Dumbledore was the one to put Harry with the Dursleys in the first place.

“I’m afraid not,” Dumbledore said. “Luckily, however, I was able to access Petunia Dursley’s Obliviated memories.”

“Did you see the attacker?” Tonks asked. “Who is the bastard that took Harry?! I’ll hunt them down myself!”

Dumbledore sighed. “Let us drop the charade, Tonks,” Dumbledore said. “I know you know as well as I do who attacked the Dursleys and took Harry. I explicitly told you that Harry would be safest with his aunt, and you not only took him from that protection, but also involved Sirius Black. I need an explanation, and Harry needs to go back to his aunt and uncle’s home.”

“Professor, with all due respect, you’ll get Harry back over my dead body,” Tonks said harshly. “I don’t know what your definition of ‘safe’ is, but Harry was half dead when we took him. He’d been starved, locked in a cupboard, left in his own feces, and that neanderthal Petunia married broke his arm. We have documentation from the healer that fixed him to prove it.”

The last part was apparently news to Dumbledore. “I never knew it was that bad,” Dumbledore said softly. “I knew they weren’t kind to him, I knew they made some questionable choices, but breaking his arm-”

“What ‘questionable choices’ did you know about? Did you know about the starvation? The cupboard?!” Tonks demanded.

Dumbledore’s silence was answer enough, and the door of the boys’ room burst open and Sirius came running out, brandishing his wand and pointing it in Dumbledore’s face. The lack of surprise on Hagrid, Remus, and Minerva’s face confirmed Dumbledore’s suspicions – they were all in on this, too.

“You bloody _bastard_!” Sirius shouted. “You meddling old fool, how _dare _you-”

But before he could curse Dumbledore into oblivion, Hagrid pulled Sirius back.

“This is going nowhere,” he said gruffly.

“Hagrid’s right,” said Minerva. “It’s time we were _all _honest with each other.”

Sirius, Remus, and Tonks exchanged a look and nodded. They took turns explaining about the secret keeper switch, breaking Sirius out of Azkaban, and rescuing Harry and Dudley, swapping when it became too much for one of them to talk about it anymore.

* * *

“So, do you believe us?” Remus asked uncertainly after they’d finished.

Dumbledore nodded. “I do,” he said, and the triad sighed with relief. Though none of them were exactly happy with Dumbledore at the moment, it was best _not _to have such a powerful man as an enemy.

“Good,” said Sirius. “Then you can explain everything to us, including and especially why our godson had to be with people who hate and mistreat him.”

“Of course,” Dumbledore said, and then proceeded to do just that. “When Lily died to save Harry, she unwittingly activated an ancient, powerful spell. This spell will protect Harry from Voldemort if he were ever to return – and he will – but only if Harry lives with a blood relative of Lily’s and calls that place home. I didn’t like it, but I had no choi-”

“You are _not _about to tell me you had no choice, Albus Dumbledore,” Minerva said sharply. “You are _not _about to tell me we _had _to leave Harry in an abusive home over something as imprecise as blood magic. What happens if You-Know-Who returns when Harry is an adult, and no longer living with his family anyway? Or are you expecting Harry to live with those people until the day he dies?”

Wisely, Dumbledore said nothing.

“A blood relative? Well, we’re in luck. We’ve got that part already, thanks to Tonks, so there’s no need to bring Harry back to those people,” Sirius said.

“What – oh!” said Tonks. “Dudley, of course.”

“Petunia’s son,” Dumbledore mused. “He’s only a second degree relative of Lily’s, and a third degree relative of Harry’s, so the protections won’t be as powerful, but they should hold up at least partially as long as the boys live together.”

“We have three fully qualified magic users in the house,” Tonks said. “All of whom were trained by you, and one of whom is a fully trained Auror. I’m sure we can make up the difference.”

“I’m confident that you can,” Dumbledore said. “And, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. I should’ve paid more attention – if I’d known how bad it was, especially with their son also being magical-” he sighed. “It may be too much to ask for your forgiveness, and I can never make up for my mistake, but I’d like to help, if you’ll have me. I will, of course, not interfere if you won’t.”

The other adults exchanged a look.

“You know it’s going to take a long time for us to be able to trust you again,” Tonks said. Dumbledore looked disappointed, but Tonks wasn’t done. “So you’d better get started. Any help you can give us would be much appreciated.”


End file.
